Border Down re-printing; Dreamcast games into 2008

Famitsu broke the news this past week that the highly regarded (and sought after) Dreamcast shooter, Border Down, is set to see a re-release on the Dreamcast almost 4 years after it was first released back in 2003.

The Border Dwon reprinting will only be through the Japanese retailer Messe Sanoh and will be available in conjunction with a CD soundtrack release for the game starting January 17th. The exact number of copies of the game that can be sold will be limited I assume, but no set number was listed for this printing. The game is set to retail for 7,140 yen. The CD soundtrack will retail for 2,625 yen.

This news is a bit interesting to me for a handful of reasons. I was under the impression that the first run of Border Down sold out at retailers, so it begs the question, where are these extra GD-Roms coming from? It's been heavily rumored (and pretty much confirmed) that Sega was ceasing production on their GD-Roms in mid 2007, so the chances are, there is some stock available for limited releases that is available to certain developers. That or maybe G.Rev squirreled away a handful of GD-Roms for a rainy day? It's a possibility at least...

Considering the current re-sale value of Border Down, this is a great opportunity for fans of the game who may not have had a chance to pick it up to begin with. The limited qualities will of course pretty much limit this release to those in Japan who have access to walk into the store, but none-the-less, where there is a will there's a way.

In my opinion, Border Down is one of the finest horizontal shooters in ages (rivaled only by Gradius V), so to see a game this deserving pick up a second release is a great thing. According to Famitsu, G.Rev will be reprinting all of the original edition's manuals and casings matched identical to the regular edition of Border Down. Dreamcast releases into 2008? Yes, please.

Thanks goes out to lech on our new forums for pointing out the news. Feel free to visit the forums to discuss this and any other news that you find interesting in regards to arcade gaming.

Also, Happy New Year everyone!

1up/Game Videos Street Fighter IV Special

Despite the fact that I haven't watched it yet, I felt it's important to go ahead and post this now while it's still fresh. This is the 1up.com/Gamevideos special on Street Fighter IV and includes some of the first shots of the game in action. I'll post my comments on it later when I get the chance to sit through it...

Tougeki Super Battle Opera '08 Preliminary Line-up revealed

Over at Fighter's Frontline, the initial preliminary line-up for the 2008 Tougeki Super Battle Opera was posted with some of the early dates to mark in your calendar to watch out for in regards to the event. The 6th Arcadia Cup will begin its opening rounds in April and will conclude with the Grand Finals in August.

There aren't many surprises in the line-up of games announced. Most are predictable extensions of franchises that have already been a part of the tournament history, however there are a few changes to note. When compared to last year's line-up, the only "true" returning games are Virtua Fighter 5, Street Fighter III Third Strike, and Guilty Gear Accent Core. Games that are part of previous Tougeki franchises are Arcana Heart 2, King of Fighters '98 Ultimate Match, Super Street Fighter II X Grand Master Challenge, Tekken 6, Hokuto no Ken (which was part of the line-up back in 2006), and Melty Blood Actress Again (the flyer states Act Cadenza version B2, but all sources that I've seen have claimed Actress Again is replacing version B2).

Though the official website for the Tougeki Super Battle Opera has not been updated yet with the 2008 information, starting in the next couple of months more early details will be released in regards to slots available, tournament rules, and more. I'll try to keep my eyes open for any additional information that is posted in regards to the tournament settings.

Karous (Wii) details officially revealed

I've been waiting on an official acknowledgement from Milestone that a Wii port of their arcade shooter Karous was actually in the works as was leaked and confirmed by O3 Entertainment back at E3.

After a couple of months of waiting, some initial details about the game were finally posted over at Rakuten (via Postback). Not content with providing Wii gamers a simple port of Karous, Milestone is packaging together a compilation DVD that will also include Radirgy and Chaos Field in addition to Karous. The game will retail for about 5,040 yen and will ship in March.

No word yet on a release stateside, but I'm sure there are those inside O3 Entertainment who will love to see the translation they have already worked on for Raido Allergy not to go to waste. I'm hoping they will look at bringing this compliation disk to the US, but until a formal announcement is made, we'll just have to cross our fingers and wait...

Who knows, if this compilation does well, perhaps Wii gamers will also be the main console home for Milestone's Illvelo since an official Dreamcast port is pretty much out of the question.

Street Fighter 4 to show up at AOU2008?

Arcade Heroes has pointed out that Am-net's AOU2008 site has launched this past week.

Included in the basic exhibitor's list is a breakdown of a couple of games that may or may not be shown off at the event. An interesting note to make in regards to this list is the inclusion of Street Fighter IV on Capcom's expected games. Though you have to take the early reports of these amusement trade shows with a grain of salt (even AM-net had a few games incorrect in the build up to the 45th Amusement show back in September), it does at least showcase some of the rumors floating around in regards to what the arcade developers may be planning.

Taking note in how I broke down the 45th Amusement Show links and information, I'll be doing the same in February with the AOU2008 show. Expect quite a few more updates in the coming month as we start to get some "solid" information and begin to receive the early preview coverage of the event.

Kristin Kreuk is Chun Li

Over at ComingSoon.net, Kristin Kreuk has just been announced as Chun Li in the Hyde Park Entertainment live-action movie adaptation of the Street Fighter franchise. The film is set to start filming in March 2008 and will be distributed by 20th Century Fox. I'm crossing my fingers that the director and producers know what they are doing. I was shocked when I heard that Jessica Biel was a front runner a couple of months ago, but now I'm even more shocked that they have cast Kristin Kreuk in the role. She has always just seemed so frail...

Of course, this is based on my casual Smallville viewings since I haven't seen Miss Kreuk in anything else, but does anyone see this role working out or is this another Jean Claude Van Damme as the all American soldier, Guile? At least they have her nationality right (Kristin's mother is of Chinese descent). That's one thing the film has going for them right from the beginning.

beatmania IIDX 15 DJ Troopers released in Japan

Over on the new forums, waxingandwanding brought a post by bemanistyle to my attention that detailed the release of the latest beatmaniaIIDX title in Japan. In addition to the release information provided by bemanistyle, they have also provided the initial track listing, a break down of some of the new features for the game, and a couple of YouTube! links for easy perusal (one of which is embedded below).


With the onset of popular music based titles Rock Band and Guitar Heroes for console gamers, I believe that the arcade scene in America is ripe for some more expansion by Konami in regards to their music franchises. I know that several people have shown the amount of money that some DDR machines are able to make based on their location has the potential to dwarf the income generated by the rest of the arcade in comparison. With the marketability of rhythm games at an all time high, it would seem foolish not to try to take advantage of the appeal.

Bridget (Guilty Gear Accent Core) PVC Model

Everyone's favorite gender confused fighter Bridget (Guilty Gear Accent Core) is getting a new PVC model from Max Factory. The model is set to be released March 2008 for around 6,800 yen. Dengeki Online has posted a series of images of the 1/7th scale model, so for those interested in getting a few more additional shots of Bridget, you can see them here.

I'm not quite sure if Bridget would fit well in my personal collection of Vic Vipers and Street Fighters, but I know that he would definitely find a home on the shelves of the more die-hard fans of the series. Plus, the model would always make for an interesting conversational piece, should you choose to get into Bridget's back story with anyone visiting your home.

Senko No Ronde 2 website opens

The official website to G.Rev's Senko no Ronde 2 opened earlier this week and features a whole lot of nothing. Though I don't necessarily fault game developers and publishers holding back content why they are in the early stages of development, I do wish that they would give fans something a bit more substantial if they are going to go through the effort of bringing a website online. Yes, it's a small criticism, but since we don't have much to go on regarding the sequel to G.Rev's fighter/shooter hybrid, it's about all I can really say about the current website. More information is sure to come. I'll try to keep my eyes open for any updates that occur on the website in the next couple of months. Senko no Ronde 2 is scheduled for release in 2008.

Tekken 6 movelist posted in a convenient PDF

Namco has posted the full movelist for each of the characters in Tekken 6 in an easily searchable PDF file. The PDF is only about 3MB, so if you are interested in checking out some of the changes to your favorite characters before the game makes its way stateside, this is your opportunity. I've only glanced through the file, but I can already tell that most of the returning characters have quite a few new tricks up their sleeves. Tekken 6 has already been released in arcades across Japan. Though the game is not seeing wide distribution in the US, gamers should be seeing it slowly trickle across North America as arcades jump on the new bandwagon. The PDF can be found here.

Soldner-X now available

I was pleasantly surprised today when the postman finally delivered my copy of Soldner-X. I've been eagerly awaiting the opportunity to play this game, despite the doubts I've had after seeing some of the videos.

The quality of the package as well as the nice "little touches" that eastasiasoft and SideQuest Studios went through are welcome signs of quality for a publishing studios first release. Of course though, shiny only goes so far and no matter how I feel about the packaging, the contents inside are what's most important.

One thing that may catch a lot of people off guard (myself included) was the fact that Soldner-X doesn't prompt an install. The game loads directly from the disk. I can't speak for everyone since it seems that your load times are going to be determined primarily by your system, but for me, despite the game not being set up to your harddrive, the game loaded promptly every time.

As for the game itself, I'm planning on spending some time dedicated to really playing it before I try to write up a review. My first impressions have been relatively solid overall, but there are a few design choices that still have me a bit puzzled. Visually the game is incredibly fluid, though there are some slight issues that hold back the aesthetics a bit. The music quality is every bit as good as Rafael Dyll's previous work on Last Hope, so that's a huge positive in the game's favor (especially so since the game is packaged with its soundtrack).

At the very least the game is fun... I'm enjoying my time with it so far, however I'm hesitant to say whether or not it's truly good until I play through it a bit more. If all things go well, I'll try to get a full review up once I finally get through the game at least once.

Senko no Ronde 2 Announced for Arcades

I picked this up over at Postback via Gamercafe.cl - Senko no Ronde 2 was recently announced by G.Rev at a recent tournament in Japan. Though we don't have any information about the game outside of a scheduled release date in 2008 in arcades, it seems a short promo piece was shown at the event that revealed at least two more characters in the new game. No word yet on when (or if) this promo video is going to be made available by G.Rev, but I'm sure it more than likely will end up online in one form or another eventually.

As a friendly reminder, Gamestop still has War Tech Senko no Ronde for $9.99 if your store still has it. They claimed it was a temporary price drop, but it seems like they were mostly dumping the rest of their inventory. Pick it up if you are a shooter or fighter fan, the game is a good hybrid of both, and well worth a $10 price tag.

Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus?

Guilty Gear Accent Core's release in Japan for the Playstation 2 was a bit less than idea for Arc System Works.

Though the game was not an absolutely horrible port, there were enough bugs and errors in the game that the company formally issued an apology for the disappointment of their fans. Unsurprisingly, they did mention that they would be looking at the potential of releasing a new version of the game that would include the bug fixes that the American version of Accent Core received in its translation.

Arc System Works looks like they've finally put some solid plans in the works to get a new version of Accent Core into the hands of Japanese gamers.

I haven't found any press release or information on the game yet, but over at Play-Asia.com, a listing for Guilty Gear Accent Core Plus for the Playstation 2 has been uploaded with a pending release date of March 2008.

With no solid details explaining the changes in this version of the game, I can only speculate that Arc System Works is intending on delivering a far more satisfactory Guilty Gear experience for fans of the series. After the original PS2 version was discontinued, the only version of the game that was available for home purchase was the Wii version which was passed over by Japanese gamers.

Whether or not this release will also include any fundamental updates to the Guilty Gear system is unknown at this time, but with the pricing at a full priced normal retail level for the PS2, I can't help but think that Arc System Works may have some other things in mind for Accent Core Plus. Of course, this could just be a place holder pricing from Play-Asia, but I'll keep my eyes open for any additional information.

If anyone has anything new to add about this game or any details that you may have about changes the game is receiving, I would love to hear it.

SNK Playmore reveals new Fatal Fury Special Pachislot

This past Tuesday, SNK Playmore provided the first look at their latest Pachislot machine based on the popular Fatal Fury franchise (in specific Fatal Fury Special). Though I've never been a big slot machine fan myself, the SNK fan inside of me can at least appreciate the aesthetics. I just can't help but wonder though if SNK Playmore was as dedicated to 2D fighting games as they are to the Pachislot/Pachinko industry, we possibly could've been playing King of Fighters XII earlier this year.

For those who are unfamiliar with Pachislot machines, the game acts very similar to a classic slot machine with one exception: the machines have 3 buttons underneath the "wheel" area that allows you to stop the rotations one at a time. This adds a slight degree of skill (or illusion of skill depending on who you speak to) to the game despite the underpinnings still being based mostly on randomness and luck.

SNK Playmore Japan has already posted a teaser site for the Pachislot game. If you go over to the company's Slot Station section of the website, it can be found by clicking on the top link under the "What's New" section for 12/13/2007. Included on the teaser are the wheel odds, some detailed graphics of the machine (and its screens), as well as a special movie that I couldn't personally get to load for me (I assume its just a small trailer with some Fatal Fury artwork mixed in).

For more information on the hands on information about this Pachislot release, head over to PachinkoVista.com, where they have a full write up of the game and the SNK Playmore announcement.

Street Fighter 3 Third Strike coming to GameTap

Over at NeoGaf, alkaline black has posted a small announcement that Street Fighter III Third Strike is going to be added to the current Gametap library of thousands of games on December 20th. Unfortunately for purists, it is the Dreamcast version of the game, so arcade perfection shouldn't be expected. I'm not sure how well the Dreamcast games are emulated through the Gametap system, but this will at least offer a way (quality subjective) to play Third Strike for those who don't have it via any other form or have issues with using the recently released CPS-3 emulators.

There is no online play however, so don't expect to be able to get your groove on against opponents across the world. That may be for the better though, as there are still some issues with Gametap's online play.

Check it out on December 20th if you are a current Gametap member. Maybe Gametap will decide to post it up on their "free games" list when it first hits the service. I doubt it, but you never know.

More information on Gametap can be found on their official site.

Castle of Shikigami 3 coming to North America on the Wii

Color me surprised. I had a feeling that Shikigami No Shiro 3 would eventually make its way stateside, but I was a bit unsure of which direction a US publisher would take in regards to the port (either the Xbox 360 version, Nintendo Wii version, or both). Aksys has announced today that they intend on released the Wii version of Shikigami No Shiro 3 (now known as Castle of Shikigami 3) in the US in Spring 2008. There was no mention about whether or not the Xbox 360 version of the game will also be getting a release in the United States.

Though this isn't my favorite game in the series, it is still a good shooting game that deserves some attention from any fan of the genre. The bullet "buzzing" feature is well done and though it rewards a more "suicidal" style of play, high score fanatics should find enough variation in the game to find the game worthy of some dedicated play time.

Hopefully Aksys will take a bit more care with the translation that the series didn't receive with its last two releases under other publishers(Castle Shikigami 2's translation was absolutely horrible and Mobile Light Force 2 has some of the worst marketing ever).

Press release below.

CASTLE OF SHIKIGAMI III ON THE Wii™ IN THE SPRING OF 2008
Bullet hell comes to the Wii!

Torrance, CA (December 14, 2007) – Aksys Games, a publisher of interactive entertainment products, is set to release Castle of Shikigami III, a vertical scrolling shoot’em-up on the Wii in the spring of 2008.

"Caste of Shikigami is known in Japan for its lively characters and challenging difficulty. There's just something to be said when a game paints the screen with enemy gunfire and rewards you for living life on the edge,” said Michael Manzanares, Project Lead, Aksys Games. “I've always been a fan of the Shikigami series, and I'm glad we had the opportunity to bring this latest installment to the States.”

Castle of Shikigami III Features:

• Tension Bonus System! Your proximity to enemy units and gunfire determines your score and firepower!

• 10 memorable characters! Each character has their own specialized weapons and powers, anything from chain lightning to psychic blades!

• 55 possible story combinations! Experience a wide variety of scenarios with fully voiced dialogue!

• 2 Player Co-op Mode! Dodge a never-ending barrage of bullets alone or with a friend!
• Exclusive console-only Dramatic Change Mode! Switch between two characters in the middle of the fight to improve your chances for survival!

Castle of Shikigami III has not yet been rated by the ESRB. More information about Aksys Games and Castle of Shikigami III can be found at www.aksysgames.com.

NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM Ships for PlayStation®2 System

I missed this in my e-mail earlier this week...

If you had to choose between King of Fighters XI or NEO GEO Battle Coliseum, I would recommend picking up King of Fighters XI. However, if you are a fan of the company and enjoy a bit of fan-service, NEO GEO Battle Coliseum is worth a look after you pick up King of Fighters XI.

NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM Ships for PlayStation®2 System

Tag-Team Fighter Features Characters from Popular SNK PLAYMORE Games

Wall, NJ – Dec. 11, 2007 – SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION, the U.S. publishing arm of the SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION, today announced that NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system is shipping to retailers across North America.

Set in the year 2017, NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM pits players against a man determined to rule the NEOGEO world. The game employs a two vs. two tag-team battle system, allowing players to switch characters during play and perform team attacks on their opponents. The character roster has 40 characters represented by well-known faces from the likes of WORLD HEROES, ART OF FIGHTING, FATAL FURY, SAMURAI SHODOWN, LAST BLADE, METAL SLUG and KIZUNA ENCOUNTER.

“NEOGEO BATTLE COLISEUM brings together dozens of beloved SNK characters in one big tag-team extravaganza,” said Ben Herman, president of SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION. “It’s a great choice for SNK fans new and old.”

About SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION
Headquartered in Osaka, Japan, SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION (SNK) develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software in Japan, North America, Europe and Asia. Founded in 1978, SNK is one of the largest privately held interactive entertainment content providers in the world. Known for such franchises as THE KING OF FIGHTERS, METAL SLUG, and SAMURAI SHODOWN SNK continues to be an industry leader by focusing on their rich arcade history. More information on SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION can be found at www.snkplaymore.co.jp

SNK PLAYMORE USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION with offices in Wall, NJ. It handles operations in North America including publishing, marketing, development and localization. More information on SNK PLAYMORE USA can be found at www.snkplaymoreusa.com

Temporary Forums Active

One of the biggest requests I've received over the last couple of months is to add forums to the site. I'm currently looking through multiple sources trying to find the best internet forum software, but until then, I've decided to go ahead and put up a temporary forum for site discussion.

Anyone is free to join.

I want the discussion to stay fairly open, so I haven't limited the topics too much (Arcade News, General Gaming, and Off Topic Discussion). I don't see this as necessarily attempting to take away attention from your favorite gaming spots, but rather a good place to be able to go to talk about things that aren't necessarily front page post worthy with similarly like minded gamers. If you have something you want to throw out there to talk about or discuss, feel free to do so. The forums are out there for anyone who wants to use them as much as they are there for me to be an additional tool for my blog/site.

Of course I will monitor for inappropriate postings, but this will be limited more towards blatant disregard to decent consideration rather than a tool used to stifle speech.

The current link to the forums is http://arcaderenaissance.freeforums.org/. When this changes, I'll be posting an update to that effect as well as giving everyone ample warning so the switch over isn't "sprung" on anyone.

2nd Samurai Spirits Sen Location Test Announced

The official Samurai Spirits Sen website has posted the details for the second location test for the game. The location tests will be held starting on December 20th and will end on December 24th.

The first series of tests had a generally positive reaction from fans aside from a few smaller complaints (lack of blood was the main one). I wasn't quite sure about it at first, but the videos and on hand reports are enough for me to at least keep the game on my watch list. For more information about the tests (which are going to be held at four separate facilities), head over to SNK Playmore's Samurai Spirits Sen page.

Like the previous test, I'll be sure to post some pictures and videos as they show up on YouTube, Stage6, and other sites. I have a friend who I think may be heading to the Game World site, so if he does, I'll also post his hands on thoughts as well.

Anyone else get the feeling that Samurai Spirits Sen is going to turn out to be the better 3D transitional game when compared to Street Fighter IV?

I know I can't be alone in that...

Street Fighter IV EGM Images

Neo Arcadia has posted several new high quality shots of Street Fighter IV that were part of the 13 page EGM article. I'm unfortunately still waiting for my issue to arrive (my subscription is unusually late this month), but it seems that all of those leaked details ended up being directly from EGM via a rather interesting story involving a supposedly stolen password and EGM Brazil's FTP server.

I'm not entirely pleased with everything I'm hearing about Street Fighter IV. I'm keeping an open mind about it, and its definitely better than the Street Fighter action game rumors I was hearing earlier this year, but it still isn't what I wanted in a Street Fighter sequel.

Be sure to check out Neo Arcadia for all of the images they've posted from EGM.

Global VR to debut Blazing Angels at ATEI in London

This comes to us courtesy of Arcade Heroes and The Stinger Report. After a few tantalizing months curious about what Global VR had in store for the Blazing Angels franchise, we now get our first opportunity to test it out. As Arcade Heroes points out, this could be a very tempting offer for arcade owners. It is basically going to fill in the niche of a more budget minded alternative to Afterburner Climax.

GLOBAL VR® TO DEBUT BLAZING ANGELS AT ATEI IN LONDON JANUARY 2008

SAN JOSE, Calif. – (December 5, 2007) — On the heels of the introduction of EA SPORTS™ NASCAR® Racing and America’s Army, GLOBAL VR today announced that it will debut another soon to be hit title, Blazing Angels. Derived from UbiSoft’s blockbuster game, GLOBAL VR has taken one of the most exciting WWII flying games ever developed and created an experience that is unparalleled in today’s coin-op market. Gaming pilots will sit in the replicated cockpit of a WWII fighter plane and fly combat missions in some of the greatest air battles of the war. Players can enter the action flying the skies over London during the Battle of Britain, defending Parliament from an attack by the Luftwaffe. Exciting battles will follow over the North African Desert and in the South Pacific as players “dogfight” through the entire war. Pilots can maneuver their planes through dramatic 360 degrees turns as they attempt to out-wit, out-fly and outlast the enemy.

Known for its unique cabinet design, GLOBAL VR surpasses even its own expectations with Blazing Angels. Styled in true WWII fashion, this game’s cabinet will be the center of attention in any location. When asked to comment about the upcoming game title, Jim DeRose, GLOBAL VR’s President and CEO commented, “We have tested Blazing Angels thoroughly with our target audience and are convinced that this is a game that people are going to want to play. During the course of testing, players commented that the excitement of flying and the realism provided by the amazingly beautiful graphics are light-years ahead of any other game they have played. There is no matching the thrill of being in the midst of WWII combat action, and to make this game even more attractive, it is “green label”, making it suitable for every location.”

GLOBAL VR will be introducing Blazing Angels at ATEI to be held January 22nd – 24th at London’s Earl’s Court Exhibition Centre, where GLOBAL VR will occupy booth #2442. For more information or to schedule an appointment please contact GLOBAL VR at sales@globalvr.com.

Two New Leaked Street Fighter IV Images and Details

Destructoid has spotted two new images and a detail sheet on Street Fighter IV over at the Brazilian blog Blogeek. These are rumors right now until they get substantiated, but I think it's safe to say based on the images that the shots, at the very least, are 100% real. As for the game details... That's anyone's guess.

Here's the rundown of what Blogeek has to say:

The graphics aren't the way they are in the teaser that everyone watched. The game's still pretty, but it has nothing of that ink-splashing or anything. Art direction is interesting. Unlike all the other 3D fighters, SFIV is not meant to be photo realistic.

Street Fighter IV runs at 60 frames per second.

Street Fighter IV will have online play.

The game takes place after Super Street Fig`ter II Turbo and before SFIII. The good news is that the character roster will be made of many old-school brawlers and some entirely new ones. There are two new girls on the list. We will probably not see any SFIII characters.

The stage you saw at 1Up, if you didn't figure out, is Chun-Li's Stage from SF2.

The excellent Parry system form SFIII is gone. The new system seems to be called Saving or Revenge (we're not sure about the name). We don't know exactly how it works, but it's built around cancels. And we do know we'll have another gauge to activate the Saving/Revenge stuff, besides the usual Super Gauge.

Supers are there (although they didn't decide yet if it will be like in SSF2T or SFIII), and now they've put another moves called Ultras. These makes your character throws a auto combo with tons of moves. It's like a custom combo ... except by the custom part.

Shen Long may appear in the game. We are NOT kidding.

The consoles are not decided yet, really. But, assuming that SFIV will have online play, we can obviously think of Xbox 360 and PS3 (duh). It's very likely that we'll see an arcade version without online mode too, and our sources told us that Capcom could put some test machines in Japan arcades in Q2 next year.

I'm still not feeling the look of the game at all yet. I'm waiting for it to grow on me...

As for the game details, I'm not quite sure what to think. I don't like the idea of a game called Street Fighter IV positioned in between Super Turbo and Street Fighter III. It screams "Alpha" all over again. No parries is also sure to ruffle a few feathers.

The good news is the note about an arcade testing cycle in Japan. I don't know how reliable the source is, but I've always thought that the best way to test a tournament fighter is in open location tests in arcades. No company driven or QA driven tests would be able to provide the same feedback an arcade location test can provide.

We'll see how much of this pans out in the EGM issue later this month.

1up gets the scoop on Street Fighter IV

1up.com (and its sister magazine EGM), have gotten the inside scoop on Street Fighter IV in its upcoming January issue. As a bit of a teaser for the "big" unveiling, 1up.com has posted the first released information (including a screenshot) about the game courtesy of Capcom USA.

Has it been worth the wait and anticipation since the teaser? Not really (at least for me).

The game may be Street Fighter in name, but I'm just not "feeling" the new look... I hate to say this, but it feels like the art style and design for the game have simply been phoned in. There's no feeling in the screenshot. No emotion. Perhaps once we get a few more screens and the game in motion I'll change my mind, but for now, my hype has actually went down just a tad.

Am I alone in this feeling?


Aside from the screenshot, 1up.com also picked out small snippets of information to post. First off all, the game is 2.5D as I had presumed from the trailer. The game will be fought on a 2D plane built with the above styled 3D characters. The game will also be controlled with the standard Street Fighter 6 button control scheme.

According to 1up, Ryu, Ken, Chun Li, and Dhalsim will be returning, but that's all they can say for sure. The game's platform is still not revealed at this stage. It can probably be safely presumed that the game will more than likely deliver its action on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. The only "real" question is the likelihood of a Nintendo Wii port (not likely in my opinion) or an arcade version (probably not for the US).

I susbcribe to EGM, so once I get in the magazine I'll try to post any new information revealed in its pages. Keep your eyes open though, this should be just the start of a new "deluge" of information surrounding the title.

Street Fighter 4 Information "Coming Soon"

Capcom's Seth Killian has teased up this week as a week to watch for Street Fighter fans. It seems that Capcom's promised updated on Street Fighter 4 is coming "soon". From over at the Capcom BBS, Seth Killian posted the following update in a response to the question of when new information about the game would be revealed:

There will be a BUNCH of good new SFIV info coming "soon." Is "very soon" better? How about "by the end of next week"?

There will still be lots of questions that don't get answered (and many don't HAVE answers--the game is very much in development), but there will be some great info for everyone to chew on, including answers to some of the biggest questions currently circulating.

best,
Seth

So what can we expect?

Probably not a lot. But I'm hoping that the main question (is it 2D, 3D, 2.5D) is finally answered. Keep your eyes on the Capcom forums as well as here. I'll try to post whatever information is revealed just as soon as its updated.

New Soldner-X Trailer

eastasiasoft and Sidequest Studios have posted their latest trailer to Soldner-X on YouTube for easy viewing. The side scrolling PC shooter is set to be released later this month and promises a great collection of art and music as a bonus for those who go ahead and pre-order the game over at Play-Asia.com.

I still have quite a few concerns about the visibility of the bullets compared to the debris (this is something that wrecks a lot of shooters), but we'll see if that ends up breaking the game in the end. I have my copy on pre-order already, so I'll post some impressions once I get it in.

Holiday Notes (and Stuff)

Just as a bit of site maintenance issues, the last part of November and the entire month of December is a bit crazy for me. Working in the business I work in, Christmas time is the time when I end up having about 0 free time as I try to meet the demands of all my clients. Run here, run there, stay on call the whole time, come up to the office on Christmas Day. Yep... All that fun stuff that goes along with the holiday, I'm going to have to put up with over the course of the next month.

With that said, I'm going to be slowing down my posting a bit in December. I'm going to regularly update, but I wouldn't necessarily expect a lot out of me while I'm trying my damnedest to keep my head screwed on straight. I just wanted to mention that in case anyone wonders where the once daily posts go.

The New Year's just right around the corner and have a lot of plans for the blog/site. I think it's about time that I'm going to be ditching Blogspot/Blogger altogether and go with a custom design with arcade location and game databases that are able to be searched through for reviews, previews, news, etc. It's going to be a long gradual process, but I should be getting a lot of stuff done from a back end side of things in the next couple of months. With 9 months into things, it's about time to get some changes made, huh?

If you have any feedback about what I'm doing (or not doing) or if you have any suggestions on how you would like an arcade gaming news site to look, let me know. I'm always willing to listen and maybe even implement a few ideas as I go along.

Happy Holidays everyone. Hopefully your Christmas isn't as crazy as mine is going to be.

Space Invaders Extreme Trailer

It's still a couple of months away, but with each new video I see of Space Invaders Extreme, the more excited I get over the prospects of this Space Invaders "re-visioning". Yes it borrows bits from Rez, Every Day Shooter, and the recent trend of music/shooter hybrids, but hearing remixed sound bites from the '79 Space Invaders release coupled with the new look is enough to awaken the giddy fanboy in me.

I'm just hoping the game keeps the "never-ending" aspect of the original...

Lord of Vermilion Promo Video

Over at the Lord of Vermilion official website, Square-Enix has posted a short video for the upcoming card strategy/rpg.

I'm really enjoying the design of the game and its promotional material. The company does seem to be wanting to really throw their full weight into the project (which is a great sign for the strength that Square-Enix sees in the Japanese amusement sector). The customization within the game, the party vs party gameplay, and the huge number of collectible options (and the target audience of the game), gives off the huge impression that the company may have an arcade hit on their hands with Lord of Vermilion.

I have a few scans of the cards that I'm going to post up in the next couple of days (once I get them translated), but until then, the video does reveal a couple of snippets of artists who are currently working on the project. Ryosuke Aiba (Final Fantasy XI), Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy VI), Toshiyuki Itahana (Final Fantasy IX), Ryoma Ito (Final Fantasy Tactics Advance), Yusuke Naora (Final Fantasy VII/Advent Children), Hideo Minaba (Final Fantasy XII), Akihiko Yoshida (Final Fantasy III DS), are all named specifically in the video as contributing card art for the final product.

The location test this weekend is also mentioned, so I'm sure we'll begin seeing some first hand reports pop up on the web at that time.

Arcadia Magazine Top 10 for November

Like clockwork, Arcadia Magazine has posted their top ten lists for the month of November.

After debuting last month on the non-dedicated cabinet lists, both King of Fighters Maximum Impact Regulation A and Kinnikuman Muscle Grand Prix 2 have been knocked off in favor of two new shooting games (Otomedius and Death Smiles). Currently, this is the most shooters that have appeared on the list since the beginning of this year.

As for the dedicated cabinets, Konami once again has dominated with impressive style, actually locking themselves into the top 5 positions with the strength of Pop N' Music 15 Adventure and Beatmania IIDX 14 Gold. It's an impressive showing for the company and one that I'm sure they are eagerly paying close attention.

For future releases, Tekken 6 should end up appearing on the December lists and I would expect that Virtua Fighter 5 will see some movement (perhaps vying against Tekken 6 for the top spot) based on its latest revision. Outside of that, it's anyone's games really as the arcade industry is still full of surprises.

Top 10 Games with Non-Dedicated Cabinets

1. Mobile Suit Gundam: Seed Destiny Vs Z.A.F.T II (Banpresto, System 246)
2. Virtua Fighter 5 (Sega, Lindbergh)
3. Guilty Gear A Core (Arc System/Sega, Naomi)
4. Tekken 5 Dark Resurrection (Namco, System 256)
5. Melty Blood Act Cadenza B2 (Ecole/Sega, Naomi)
6. Deathsmiles (Cave, AMI)
7. Street Fighter III Third Strike (Capcom, CPS-3)
8. Mushihime Sama Futari (Cave, AMI)
9. Shooting Love 2007 (Triangle, NAOMI)
10. Otomedius (Konami, System 256)


Top 10 Games with Dedicated Cabinets

1. beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD (Konami)
2. Mah-Jongg Fight Club 6 (Konami)
3. DrumMania V4 (Konami)
4. GuitarFreaks V4 (Konami)
5. Pop'n Music 15 Adventure (Konami)
6. Sangokushi Taisen 2 (Sega)
7. Quiz Magic Academy IV (Konami)
8. Initial D4 (Sega)
9. MJ3 EVO (Sega)
10. Mobile Suit Gundam Kizuna (Banpresto)