I missed this earlier in the week, but at the latest location tests in Japan the ID card system for the game is being tested out for the first time.
According to Famitsu, the ID cards will be available in a limited quantity for purchase for 500 yen (about $5). Though the full details of the ID card system hasn't been fully revealed yet by Capcom, stored ranking data has been (and will be) the primary use of the card at this weekend's test. The test in Osaka will conclude on Sunday March 23rd.
As a bit of a disappointment, the latest character on the Street Fighter IV roster, El Fuerte, will not be playable at the test. Neither will Balrog (Boxer) or Sagat, according to early reports. The characters playable will be limited to the original world warriors with Crimson Viper and Abel. This has been the third scheduled location test for the game since its playable reveal at AOU 2008.
Famitsu has posted the first details of Virtua Fighter 5 R from a trailer shown off at Sega's booth at AOU 2008. Though no release details have been revealed, Famitsu states that what is known is that Virtua Fighter 5 R will introduce the first group of new characters to the Virtua Fighter 5 series. More information is said to become available as the show progresses, so hopefully we'll see a few more details about Sega's latest VF project before too long. It sounds like this may be the "Evo" that everyone has been waiting for from the hype that Famitsu seems to be building around it...
Over at Ruliweb, some new Famitsu scans were posted showcasing the first look at some of the new "old" roster of Street Fighter IV. Confirmed by the scans as being playable characters in the game are Zangief, Chun li, Guile, Blanka, Dhalsim, and E. Honda. This probably spoils the surprise that the official developer's blog was speaking about earlier today.
In addition to the new images (including some small in-game shots featuring the newly revealed additions to the roster as well as the HUD), there is also another bit of information that people should find interesting. It seems that despite being only 2% complete when it was first revealed by EGM, the game is now on track for a Summer 2008 release in arcades (no word on console platform or console release target). I'm beginning to think that the AOU 2008 build may end up being much more than Ryu and Ken fighting against one back drop...
I keep going back and forth on my opinions about the game's look. Though the "roided" Ken and Ryu put a bit of a bad taste in my mouth, Zangief and Blanka both look monstrous (as they should), Chun Li looks good and has her thighs in tact, and even Dhalsim (who I thought would suffer worse with the bulkier design) actually is acceptable from what I can see. As I've said before, I've got my doubts in some aspects of the design, but I'm becoming more of a believer as we receive more information.
Over at Neogaf, a two page scanned Street Fighter IV Famitsu spread was posted yesterday evening. When I get the chance, I'm going to go ahead and post the images here, but for now - head over to the link to check out some previously released screenshots and the first original character design for Street Fighter IV. (Update - image of Crimson Viper has been posted here... For the rest of the scans, head over to Neogaf.)
The game is growing on me a bit, but I'm still not necessarily satisfied with what I've seen so far. It looks better in motion, absolutely, but there are still some obvious hang ups that they need to get over in order to make the game really look and feel like Street Fighter. I do like that they are keeping the pauses with the hit connects. That gives me hope that the engine is going to be a lot more faithful to the 2D games than what the EX series was able to provide.
...But, can someone tell me what the deal is with the new character? Its amazing to me that the first original character for Street Fighter IV looks like they would be more at home in King of Fighters Maximum Impact than Street Fighter. Did Capcom end up hiring Falcoon when I was sleeping or something? I'm trying to get a translation for the text in the Famitsu article, but it seems (unless I'm missing something) that the new character is going to be a stylish grappler of sorts with flame-based moves and will be named "Crimson Viper" (someone correct me if I'm wrong here). This just wasn't what I was expecting based on the rhetoric that Capcom has been brandishing about when it comes to Street Fighter IV.
For the most part, the rest of the article looks to be a cross selection of information that is already available in EGM/1up and through the Capcom forums.
I've embedded a Youtube video that showcases only the actual game video portions of the 1up Show from a week or so ago as a bit of refresher for the look of the game.
What do you think? Does the new character fit?
UPDATES - Over at The Street Fighter Blog some scans from the French Consoles+ magazine have been posted with a small bit of new information. Akuma/Gouki has been confirmed by the magazine as being a part of the Street Fighter IV roster (no big surprise) and the magazine also revealed that he will be central to the main plot of Street Fighter IV.
Also, from the Famitsu article, Famitsu states that they have seen several other new characters for the game, but simply can't report on them yet due to an agreement with Capcom (no word on when the rest of us may see them). Its a bit vague as to whether or not they mean "new" as in not shown off yet in Street Fighter IV but were previously in other Street Fighter games or "new" as in new designs altogether like Crimson Viper.
Famitsu has started posting their Tokyo Game Show updates that have started to roll into the magazine/website. Though most haven't really caught my eye as anything spectacular yet, one game stood out quite a bit among all the others. Space Invaders.
In honor of the 30 year anniversary (has it really been 30 years?) of one of the handful of games that started the video game revolution, Taito is releasing a new version of Space Invaders for the Nintendo DS. Not content to leave the game in its original form, the company is promising a new levels, new patterns, new background music, and an entirely new Space Invaders experience. So new in fact that they have had to add the suffix "Extreme" to the project.
Not much is known about Space Invaders Extreme at this point. According to the Famitsu article, the paddle controller that is being released with Arkanoid DS will also work with Space Invaders. Though it won't be arcade perfect, that control scheme should be able to adequately substitute for an arcade set up.
More information and some hands on time from different press sources should be available at the Tokyo Game Show. I'll try to keep everyone posted on the details as I get them.
Over on NeoGaf, the latest Famitsu Weekly news has spoiled Treasure's countdown game that is going to be revealed in less than 18 hours. According to NeoGaf poster Johnnyram, Treasure and ESP will be bringing the Bangaioh series to the Nintendo DS this winter. I'm waiting for the countdown to expire to see the updated website, but until then, I need to contain my giddiness.
There were a few games that I speculated this could be based on Treasure and ESP's history, and though Bangaioh was the secret wish of mine, I didn't bother putting much hope into that idea. This quickly jumped up to be my second most anticipated DS game of this fall/winter (with Contra 4 barely edging it out). Action and arcade shooting fans have a lot to look forward to from Nintendo's handheld this year.
Here's the basic information revealed in Famitsu:
DS | Bangaioh Tamashii ESP This winter - 4 players via wireless play - stage editor included
Jeux-France.com once again had the lead of information coming out of Famitsu with the first scans of the official announcement of Soul Calibur Legends for the Nintendo Wii. The game, which is the one being referenced by Matt at IGN in last week's podcast, is an action adventure game that is going to take full advantage of the Nintendo Wii's motion sensing. Though details are scarce at this time, players will come across characters from all three previous Soul Calibur titles. Whether or not this includes the Nintendo Gamecube exclusive Link character is not known yet, but based on the success of Soul Calibur II on the Gamecube, I wouldn't be surprised to see his little green tunic show up in Legends as well.
The announcement of the game however doesn't seem to be all rosey for Wii fans however. Though it is great to see another solid third party title making its way to the system, I can't help but wonder if this is going to be the Resident Evil Umbrella Chronicles of the Soul Calibur series. While PS3 and Xbox 360 fans are receiving Resident Evil 5, Wii owners are given a side title which seems to be a great game in its own right, but is not part of the main numbered series that everyone is clamoring about. With the recent announcement that the Namco arcade division has built a new arcade system based around the PS3 Cell technology, it does bring up the argument that perhaps this is the game the Wii owners will receive as opposed to the next installment of the main series, Soul Calibur 4.
Is this a pacifier?
Whatever the intent, we are just hoping that this turns out better than the Mortal Kombat Mythologies series... And Virtual Fighter Quest... And Death by Degrees... And, well, you get the point.
Jeux-France was kind enough to post up the first look scans of Guilty Gear Accent Core for the Nintendo Wii. After the game was confirmed last week by Famitsu, Wii owners have been eagerly awaiting the details from the magazine with the first information about the port.
The good news? The classic controller is a confirmed control option for Accent Core on the Wii. The development team is also planning a unique motion sensing control setting as well for those who want to kick and punch with a bit more "oomph".
Guilty Gear Accent Core is scheduled for release on the PS2 later this month in Japan. The Wii port will be released in July and will be published by Sega of Japan. There is no word yet on whether or not either version will be making it stateside.
When Gamefly updated their listings and included a page for Guilty Gear Accent Core for the Nintendo Wii, a lot of people have waited patiently for an independent verification that the game was currently planned for Nintendo's new console.
Arc System Works, developers of the series, only responded to requests for a confirmation with the claim that they did not know where Gamefly received their information. Though that was a long way from the answer that fans wanted, it did fuel the speculation engine long enough that media outlets have been reporting on this rumor for months now.
But after all the rumors, it seems that we can finally confirm it with authority. Famitsu has a listing for Guilty Gear Accent Core for the Wii in its coming soon section in its latest magazine. The game is scheduled for release on July 26th in Japan (with no word on an American release, despite Gamefly's listing of July 30th in America).
The Playstation 2 version of the game is set to ship on May 31st in Japan. Guilty Gear Accent Core for the Playstation 2 can be pre-ordered today at Play-Asia.com.
Famitsu's 2006 game award recipients have been announced by the magazine on its official website. The awards (revealed on April 20th), consisted of several reader voted categories. Over 31,000 Famitsu readers participated in the polls to choose the winners from over 800 different titles released this year. Though there is a distinct lack of arcade games on the list, I'm going to claim Wii Sports as our own spiritual victory. Go Wii Sports! Or something like that.
Reader Awards
Game of the Year: Final Fantasy XII (PS2), Pokemon Pearl/Diamond (Nintendo DS)
Special Recognition (New Game or Series): Blue Dragon (Xbox 360)
Special Recognition (Best hit): Pokemon Pearl/Diamond (Nintendo DS)
Special Recognition (Innovative Game of the Year): Wii Sports (Nintendo Wii)
Best Rearranged Game: New Super Mario Brothers (Nintendo DS)
Best Overall Performance: Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Nintendo Wii)
Best Dramatic Performance: Ryu Ga Gotoku 2 (PS2)
Best Game Design: Okami (PS2)
Best Multiplayer Game: Monster Hunter 2 (PS2)
Best Impact: Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
Best Portable Game: Metal Gear Solid Portable Ops (PSP)
Best RPG of the Year: Persona 3 (PS2)
Game Producer of the Year: Sakaguchi Hironobu (Mistwalker)
Not much to look at yet, but the super deformed characters is a rather interesting choice for a game whose source material is clearly based for adults (Fate/Stay Night by Type/Moon). The game is being developed by the developer of Bullet Witch, Cavia, and is scheduled for release on the Playstation Portable sometime this year.
I missed this earlier in the week, but at the latest location tests in Japan the ID card system for the game is being tested out for the first time. 
