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Hands-on with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for Wii
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action
Umbrella Chronicles earned it’s new moniker, House of the Resident Evil, by feeling like just that. Our demo of the title had us going through the mansion from the original Resident Evil, only at turbo speed. The Wii remote was used to aim a cursor on the screen, while the nunchuk was largely useless, used only to look around. Inexplicably, reloading is done by waggling the remote, thus becoming a nuisance during hectic scenes. You know, because it’s not like the nunchuk doesn’t have motion sensors or anything.
Continue reading Hands-on with Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles for Wii
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Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN unveiled
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Puzzle
Typically found near the top of your average “most requested games for Xbox Live Arcade/PlayStation Network” list, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (wow) will come as a relief to many, but more so to the real hardcore puzzlers. While it sports online play and plenty of new modes, the most important changes are to the core of the game.
Let’s chat while the others are busy running around, screaming their heads off with excitement. The original Super Puzzle Fighter was, how do we say? Not so good. Top-Tier play essentially came down to Ken versus Ken, building on the sides and abusing the diamond gem glitch. What the HD Remix sports is the new X-Mode which, along with new graphics, offers some valuable balancing tweaks. Drop patterns have been changed so that even Felicia here is worth using and the diamond glitch has been abolished.
Continue reading Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN unveiled
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Two new DS titles for Mega Man’s 20th Anniversary
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Action, RPGs
When it comes to Mega Man’s anniversaries, Capcom is a lot like Disney. They’re always celebrating up to five years ahead or behind the times. It is indeed the 20th anniversary for the blue bomber and another year means another set of games with the Nintendo DS getting all the love.
Not to shock you or anything, but last year’s Mega Man ZX is getting a sequel by the name of Mega Man ZX Advent. Once again you’ll be assuming the roles of two androgynous kiddies as they tear it up Zero style. The title looks and feels to be more of the same, but the addition of multi-cart co-op and head-to-head play should make it more interesting for those coming back around.
Out to prove that it is in fact possible to squeeze blood out of a stone, Capcom announced not one, not two, but three different versions of their new Network title, Mega Man Star Force. Pegesus, Leo and Dragon are the names of the game and you’ll find the same Mega Man Network mechanics here, only with a slight twist. The 2-D overworld remains the same, but the battles now take place in 3-D, albeit on the same familiar grid. It’s a lot like Super Paper Mario’s 3-D in how it simply feels like a perspective switch. The game also sports Wi-Fi Connect functionality for players to trade items.
Mega Man Star Force is due out this August, followed by Mega Man ZX Advent this October.
Gallery: Capcom Gamers Day - Mega Man
Continue reading Two new DS titles for Mega Man’s 20th Anniversary
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Capcom announces Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PSP, Adventure
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law to the PlayStation 2 and PSP. This revelation came on the heels of a Phoenix Wright: Trials and Tribulations presentation, so we can only assume that Harvey will follow suit when it comes to gameplay.
For those not hip with the times, Harvey Birdman is an Adult Swim cartoon that stars 60’s icon Birdman as a defense attorney for the animated stars. He’s defended everyone from Scooby-Doo to The Jetsons and seems to own a pet bear.
Very little about the game was revealed, aside from the fact that High Voltage is developing and their aim is for a release this Fall. The pedigree isn’t exactly a shining one, but the marriage of these two licenses has us extremely optimistic nonetheless.
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Capcom snags exclusive MotoGP rights for the PlayStation brand
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Driving, Business
With shades of Namco, Capcom has gone on something of an IP land grab as of late, even going as far as to snatch what was once Namco’s. Capcom has officially secured the exlusive rights to the MotoGP license for use with the PlayStation brand until the year 2012.
What this means is that while no one else can make a PlayStation or PSP title officially based on the popular motorcycle sport, the doors are still open for other platforms, as is the case with THQ’s Moto GP series for Xbox 360. The secret is in the space.
Though no actual gameplay was shown, Capcom states that their first entry in the series, MotoGP ‘07 will be released this Fall for the PlayStation 2.
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Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix for XBLA and PSN announced
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Fighting, Online
With 13 years of competitive play under its belt and counting, Super Street Fighter II Turbo is widely considered to be 2-D fighting perfected. A high octane, extremely offense-minded fighter, how is it that Capcom plans to improve upon perfection? By bringing in the comic masterminds at UDON to redraw the entire game, pixel-for-pixel.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (wow again) for Xbox Live Arcade and PSN mirrors the same tactic Capcom utilized with their Hyper Fighting release - the goods you remember, only with online play. This time, however, Capcom is taking care of business in-house and utilizing the insight that 13 years of worldwide, top-tier competition has brought to the game.
While SSF2T HD is a pixel-for-pixel recreation of the game, they aren’t ruling out making slight changes to the game. It will be lost on the average player, but when the faithful get a load of the slight but sexy frame tweaks, they’ll freak out. And they will love it.
Capcom didn’t have anything to show on the project, but they did say that the entirety of the game is being redrawn, from the character select, all the way through to backgrounds and endings. While it would be heaven in a download if they could also work in the original SSF2T, it is something they are currently considering. Capcom is aiming for a release this Fall.
[Update - If you were interested in seeing just how super this remix is, the folks at GameKult snapped a picture of the presentation slide during the announcement. Capcom to Sammy: "In yo face!"]
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Halophiles Only: GameVideos analyzes recent Halo 3 documentary
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
We’re sure that, like most Bungie fans, you’ve already watched this week’s multiplayer documentary of Halo 3 more times than you’ve washed your hands since its release. But were you a bad enough dude to go the extra mile? Did you make sure to check for campaign footage in the reflection of a some programmer’s glasses? Or attempt to decode possible hidden messages on Master Chief’s codpiece? If not, don’t despair. Luke Smith and Mark MacDonald have got you covered.
Clocking in at just over thirty-two minutes, their analysis squeezes just about all you possibly can out of the original seven minutes, including brief glimpses of the original pistol as well as unannounced weapons and locations. Their scrutiny is commendable, but being the gigantic nerds that we are we noticed they left out one tiny thing. You can just make out a Spartan, visibly carrying the energy sword as a secondary weapon at 22:04, which is something that we haven’t seen before and could significantly alter the dynamic of being “that guy” with the sword. Take that, dorks!
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Mortal Kombat II bloodies up the PS3 April 12th
When we last reported on Mortal Kombat II for the PlayStation Network, we said it was coming out in March. Obviously that didn’t happen as we’re now deep into April and you have yet to punch someone in the crotch with the power of the internet. To make up for it, here is a fabulous joke that is guaranteed to mortify your opponents online.
What is Liu Kang’s favorite drink?
…
WATAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!
Hilarious. The ball breaking goodness arrives this Thursday as Mortal Kombat II will be available on the PlayStation Network for $4.99. It comes complete with online play, so be sure to brush up on your Mileena for when you run into jerks like us who just want to play Jax all day.
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Boom Boom Rocket fires onto XBLA this Wednesday
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Rhythm
Serious Cat is in severe danger of losing his home this month, but do you care? No, of course not. You’re about as giddy as a 13 year old girl at a Cheetah Girls concert, what with all your Xbox Live Arcade releases as of late. Is that how you get your kicks? He’s got a family you know. A whole litter of em’. But don’t let that prevent you from enjoying this EA Pogo rhythm title.
Boom Boom Rocket will be available this Wednesday (see: tomorrow) and will cost 800 Microsoft Points. We here at Joystiq love pushing buttons really fast to music when a game instructs us to do so, but we’re a bit cautious with this one. Dance Dance Revolution for your fingers and fireworks? Sure, sounds great. We only hope that by “ten original tracks” they mean there are ten tracks on top of the classical music turned eurotrash we’ve already heard. Otherwise, a certain cat who’s known to be serious may just earn a check this week.
Gallery: Boom Boom Rocket
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Sony preps the PSP for an assault on the teen market
Filed under: Sony PSP, Business
The PlayStation Portable may not have a Hannah Montana to offer the kids, but that hasn’t stopped the 13-17 year old demographic from picking it up in droves. After the horrendous disaster that was the “All I Want For Christmas is a PSP” viral campaign, Sony is doing the smart thing when it comes to appealing to the younger set. They’re actually going to market the thing like sane, rational people.
“Dude, Get Your Own” — in addition to being a marriage of the Dell dude and the back of a Cheez-Its box — is the name of the new campaign. The Kohler[TM] sat down with PSP senior product manager John Koller to discuss the new face of the Poospé and how they plan to target the teen market.
Sony is simply not willing to back down with the PSP and the recent (albeit, ridiculously late) price drop and T-Mobile deal keep it a viable option to would-be portable gamers. We only have one request for the new campaign: no more rapping, please.
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Shooting, fighting, androgyny: Senko no Ronde coming stateside
Filed under: Arcade, Microsoft Xbox 360, Fighting
Best described as a sexy, cocaine-fueled Virtual On gone 2-D, Senko no Ronde is one of the most original fighters to grace arcades in years. When it was released on the Xbox 360 last year in Japan, we figured it would stay on that side of the ocean like fellow Japanese wonders Tetris: The Grand Master Ace and The iDOLM@STER.
But when it popped up on a popular retail site about two months ago with UbiSoft’s name plastered on it, we were giddier than a fat kid trapped inside a Ben & Jerry’s shop. You can only imagine our pain when, after working our way through contact after contact, not a single person at UbiSoft would even talk about it. Heck, most didn’t even know what a “Seiko no Rodeo” even was. Thankfully, the ESRB does.
Now titled Battle Storm: Senko no Ronde, we can rest easy knowing that we’ll be busting up fools online soon enough, while silently weeping over what could be one pricey title. When last faced with an upscaled port, UbiSoft launched Import Tuner Challenge at the now standard $59.99. Senko no Ronde needs all the love it can get and for folks to take a chance a Naomi-based title in this day and age, they’re going to need a little more motivation beyond unlocking pictures of Cuilan. For a simple rundown of exactly how Senko no Ronde works, check out this ancient preview, complete with control diagram.
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April Fool’s Alert #4: Bungie announces Halo Zero
Filed under: Culture, Microsoft Xbox 360, First Person Shooters
You have to get up pretty early in the morning to fool the Halo faithful and in any case, prime time Saturday night isn’t the crack of dawn by any interpretation. An April Fool’s prank of the “We didn’t even bother to research it” variety from Game Stooge is what we have for you this time and it has to do with a prequel to Bungie’s Halo series.
Don a pocket protector and start up your favorite MC Frontalot album because it’s about to get real nerdy up in here.
The story as it goes has a prequel to Halo starring the beloved cast of the alternate reality game sensation, I Love Bees, in a tactical shooter much like the Rainbow Six series. The problem being that none of the characters would know each other prior to the original Halo, nor would any of them have any combat training whatsoever. Hell, the protagonist, Janissary James’ great accomplishment was getting shot in the chest. Okay, so she broke some limbs and generally beat the crap out of some folks along the way, but she isn’t exactly the Chief.
Another, more obvious error, is the Cortana-like A.I, Melissa (see also: Durga), being referred to as Dana by Game Stooge. If they had listened to the I Love Bees audio files for, oh, let’s say two minutes, they would have gotten that one right. Hello? Wikipedia? Ever heard of it?
This exercise in epic fail concludes with a fake address by Bungie co-founder Jason Jones that makes him sound more like a public relations robot than a human being. When was the last time any of you remember Jason Jones doing a public anything, much less a statement outside of the Halo 2 documentary? You have a better shot at finding Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny playing a game of Strip Uno at the end of a rainbow than you do finding Jason Jones doing anything public, ever.
If we’re lucky, this “Doctor Who” marathon we’re in the middle of will last until April Fool’s is over.
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Guitar Hero Effects Pedal confirmed in 360 instructions
Filed under: Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
Praise be to the Circuit City’s and Wal-Mart’s of the world as Guitar Hero II for the Xbox 360 has arrived a few, scant days early on Mount Joystiq. What? You actually go to a game store to buy your games? You should probably stop doing that. After shredding it up like only nerds with tiny, plastic toy guitars can, we actually took a look at the instruction manual, curious as to any information regarding the mystery port found at the base of the X-Plorer.
The gods of rock shined upon us as it is now clearly labeled the Effects Pedal port, as seen above. Opposite the page is an explanation of all the buttons and gadgets found on the guitar, including an explanation of the Effects Pedal port. How dost thou rocketh mighty ports of pedals?
(Feature currently not available.)
Rockin’! Now that we know for sure that it’s for some sort of effects pedal, we curl up into the fetal position. We’ve been scorned in the past by these sorts of shenanigans. We’re looking at you, Konami! We still want our Beatmania III pedal!
(Update - Because everyone is insane and paranoid about April Fools, we’ve included some actual pictures of the manual in question behind the cut. We even threw in some Mudkip because we heard that you like him so much.)
Continue reading Guitar Hero Effects Pedal confirmed in 360 instructions
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Retcon-Alert: New Mortal Kombat film to reboot franchise
Filed under: Fighting, Business
Either Midway realized they went too far the moment Liu Kang was turned into a zombie, or they just want to cash-in on a current cinema trend. Regardless, the Mortal Kombat series could stand a serious reboot. Especially after the previous game, Armageddon, featured a dead Johnny Cage split-punching every known kombatant ever in the crotch.
Should the new film ever make it to theaters, director Christopher Mink says it will be a retelling of the Mortal Kombat universe, a la Batman Begins. This would also fall in line with MK co-creator Ed Boon’s vision of a completely redone fighting game for the eighth sequel in the series. With scripts being thrown in and out of Threshold, Midway and another, unknown studio, progress is still being made albeit slowly.
In other Oscar worthy news, Mink told IMDB readers that he has met with former Mortal Kombat stars Robin Shou and Christopher Lambert. For Raiden, we expect no less, for there can be… only one!
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Itagaki demonstrates Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for DS
Filed under: Nintendo DS, Action
Revealed earlier this week, Team Ninja’s Head Developer Corey Hart Tomonobu Itagaki took the stage today in Tokyo to demonstrate Ninja Gaiden: Dragon Sword for the Nintendo DS. With the controls consisting almost entirely within the touch screen, a live demonstration of this ambitious action title is exactly what we needed after the initial scans left us somewhat baffled.
IGN, who was on-hand for the event, walked away fairly impressed with Hayabusa’s moves as they say he “dart[ed] about the screen just like his Xbox and PS3 counterpart, performing all the expected moves, right down to leaping between walls to get to higher ground.” A bold statement considering the pedigree the series has built on nigh perfect controlling action.
With single taps for movements, double taps for jumps and slashes of the stylus for attacks, we’re still somewhat skeptical of just how well this will work out, but if anyone can pull it of it’s Itagaki and company.
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Take-Two and Rockstar on the Road To Ruin
Filed under: Business
You’re probably wondering how we got to the point where reporting on an annual meeting of stockholders makes for compelling news, especially if you’re one of those weirdos who, you know, actually plays video games. If you haven’t been following the long-running drama of how Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar just can’t seem to do any good, Wired’s got you covered. The story of which makes for a much more interesting read than the aforementioned meeting.
In “The Road To Ruin,” David Kushner takes you from Rockstar’s meager beginnings to their modern day failures, including the actual Grand Theft Auto franchise falling on its face. With Rockstar getting back in the groove of shoving GTA down our throats, all while still dealing with their internal drama, now would be a good time to see what all the fuss has been about beyond “Hot Coffee” and he-who-must-not-be-named.
So you can just sit there and keep playing and enjoying your video games.. or you can do something that matters. Like care about stockholders.
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Final Fight and Street Fighter II Turbo coming to Virtual Console
Filed under: Retro, Nintendo Wii, Action, Fighting
Capcom will be bringing two more of their vintage SNES titles to the Virtual Console sometime soon as Final Fight and Street Fighter II Turbo have popped up on the ESRB list of recently cleared titles. As Super Nintendo games, both of these arcade classics are classically gimped — the technical term used for when something is downgraded.
The SNES edition of Final Fight, while technically impressive for its time, goes above and beyond the call of duty when it comes to killing the magic. Not only did Final Fight on the SNES drop the two-player action that made it a hit in the first place, but also the red-clothed karate champ, Guy. Sure, you’re playing it for Haggar anyways, but do you really want to be stuck with Cody? You also get a dose of censorship as everyone’s favorite video game transsexual, Poison, is nowhere to be found.
Street Fighter II Turbo (or Hyper Fighting as us humans call it) isn’t that bad, but smaller sprites, a lack of online play and limited controller options on the Wii make it a hard sell. We love us some Zangief, but we don’t see us pulling off our favorite combos on the classic controller.
[Via Wii Fanboy]
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Project: Top Secret drops the men-in-tights, goes racing instead
Filed under: PC, Driving, Online, MMO
When David Perry announced his democratic MMO project to the world, most figured that it would be from the same ilk as World of Warcraft or EverQuest. A fantasy MMO where you and your friends bicker amongst yourselves over who gets the +1 sword until someone gets their feelings hurt. Well, that’s not the case as Perry has told GameSpot that Project: Top Secret is currently a massively multiplayer racing title, set for completion “by GDC 2008.”
Joining the list of “things Perry has never done” is a racing title, though it may not matter when 23,000 amateur developers are all focused on the same project. Still, we wonder what the technical demographic is amongst that vast pool of talent. Certainly not the first vehicle-based MMO, Top Secret has an uphill battle ahead as titles such as Motor City Online and Auto Assault never made much of an impact in the marketplace.
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Ace Combat 6 revealed as an Xbox 360 exclusive
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action
In an event that shall only be referred to as “Mondayton,” Capcom shocked everyone by announcing a would-be exclusive for Microsoft’s platform. Today, it’s Namco Bandai’s turn. Mirroring the Xbox 360 launch with Ridge Racer 6, Ace Combat 6: Kaiho e no Senbi has been unveiled as an Xbox 360 exclusive.
IGN did the Famitsu translation work for the rest of us and fished out the details. Helming the project will be Ace Combat veterans Hiroyuki Ichiyanagi and Natsuki Isaki, serving as producer and director respectively. There will be two huge additions to the series with the first being the Dynamic Mission system. Players will be teaming up with ally pilots that can be manipulated to take care of various tasks outside the scope of the primary objective, which can then open up new missions mid-battle.
The other addition? Online play, of course. While no number of players are mentioned, there are currently battle royal and team battle modes, as well as a co-operative play that allows players to team-up against an enemy force.
Ace Combat 6 is due out in Japan this year with no set release or announcement for the Western world, though expect one sooner than later.
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Devil May Cry 4 no longer a Playstation 3 exclusive
Filed under: PC, Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Action, Business
When Microsoft’s Shane Kim told 1UP that certain titles we perceive to be PlayStation 3 exclusives weren’t so locked up, we figured that he was talking about the Assassin’s Creed or Mercenaries debacle. What Nostradamus here was hinting at was probably this: Devil May Cry 4 will be released simultaneously for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360. A PC has also been announced, though it will be shipping on a later date.
Capcom announced this news in both a late night press release and on their Japanese website as well. Like every good multi-format press release, it goes on to say that each version of the game will take advantage of the specific strengths of each platform. Well, thank god!
Now that Devil May Cry 4 has been announced for all the next generation consoles, we wait for the other foot to drop. While Capcom has gotten pretty cozy with Microsoft, we’re interested in seeing just how long Dead Rising and Lost Planet remain Xbox 360 properties.
[via PS3 Fanboy]
[Update - Capcom has sent word that while Devil May Cry 4 will be seeing a release on PC, it won't be shipping alongside the PS3 and 360 versions of the game. Thanks!]
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