If you haven’t already, go online with your copy of Tekken 6 console to download and install the spiffy new patch from Namco-Bandai. As previously posted about, the patch is supposed to improve online play, and so far… surprisingly it has, apparently. Word from forums is that gamers in Japan and Korea are raving about the improved play. I myself was able to play a couple of matches and I have to say, it’s a nice change to actually have some playable, mostly lag-free matches. I was able to fight matches from 4 to 1 bar connections, and all were markedly more playable than before (although most 1-bar matches are usually refused).

Anyway, this is pretty good stuff, and I look forward to actually playing more Tekken 6 online in the days ahead (and maybe over the weekend). Kudos to Namco-Bandai for pushing through with the after-release service. Hopefully more good stuff, like the Co-op patch and more will be forthcoming.

Oh, and thanks to Ryuhza for helping me test out some long-distance Tekken 6 play. Good game, dude! Hahaha!

Alpha Males join the SSFIV cast.

IGN just posted this pretty cool trailer for Super Streetfighter IV, featuring the newly-added challengers. As previously revealed, returning Alpha fighters Cody, Adon and Guy will be available in 2010’s fighting sequel, along with T-Hawk, Deejay and Juri. The trailer also features the characters speaking in english, which shows that the dual language track feature started in the first SFIV will be back (I’ll be setting mine to Japanese, of course).

With about three to four months to go to release, I’m expecting a LOT more to be revealed before we get this brawler on our consoles. More as we get it.

Assassin’s Creed II has been garnering rave reviews since its release, and I have to say I am intrigued. I begged off getting the first one after learning about the repetitive gameplay, plus I’m not really much of a run-and-jump/parkour game fan. However, the sequel seems to have all the right elements for awesomeness- an even morel lethal, badass as well as likable hero in Ezio, a richer more detailed open world full of character, history and interactivity, tons of ways to customize your game and your own headquarters (the Villa) which you grow and build like your Hero’s Castle in Suikoden. Sounds pretty cool to me.

Right now though my plate is still pretty full- Tekken 6 is a constant, plus I’ve barely gotten my gauntlets into Dragon Age: Origins and Modern Warfare 2. Maybe I’ll save getting AC2 for Christmas. Anyway, if you guys have the game, are you enjoying your time in Venice?

Namco-Bandai today released further details about the forthcoming free downloadable update designed to improve the online game experience for players of Tekken 6 on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. The update is scheduled for release on November 26. The update is separate from the online co-op Scenario Campaign mode download which is scheduled for release separately this winter. Online gameplay enhancements in the update include the following:

Improved input response: improvement of the game’s responsiveness to button / command inputs;

Selectable search priorities for ranked matches: players will be able to set search priorities for opponents in ranked matches based on comparable rank or connection quality as well as location;

Optimized data transmission between fighters and spectators: fight data will be optimized in order to reduce the bandwidth load on the host’s console;

Signal strength bars: the signal strength bar will reflect connection quality more accurately;

Chance to cancel match: players will be able to cancel the match before it begins once the opponent’s signal strength has been displayed on ranked matches.

Hopefully this will remedy the so-far lackluster to really bad online performance of NB’s fighting game sequel. We’ll see later this week then.

As teased by last week’s entry on the SSFIV Developers’ Blog, this week’s Famitsu of Japan revealed the latest new challengers for the upcoming Super Streetfighter IV, and then some!
Somewhat foreshadowed by a pic of Chun-Li getting walloped by someone in an urban setting (Metro City, natch), the new fighters shown are Cody, Guy and Adon. Streetwise brawler Cody is still sporting his jailhouse stripes from Alpha 3 and is probably bringing his unorthodox tactics (and dirty weapons) into the mix. Meanwhile, Sagat’s rival and kickboxing ruffian Adon is still as nasty-looking as ever. Finally, Bushin-style ninjitsu master Guy still looks bad-ass and fierce in 3D form. You can check the Famitsu scans here and here.

Anyways, so far the leaked list of new challengers to SSFIV released months ago has proven to be accurate- so we may expect a few more additions to be announced later on. Perhaps as an early precursor to this, note the pic in the upper-right corner of Guy’s page, where we see him deflecting what appears to be a mid-air kunai…

Super Streetfighter IV is set for release in Spring 2010 on PS3 and Xbox360. More on this as we get it.

Youtuber NYCTekken was apparently lucky enough to score an early copy of Tekken 6 for the PSP, and he’s posted a ton of gameplay vids showing off the second portable Iron Fist Tournament chapter.

So far, what I can gather is that the game looks- well- impressive! Though early vids show otherwise, the PSP does indeed show off a DR-or-better level of graphical quality and apparently moves at a solid 60FPS, with all characters and moves from the console and arcade versions present and accounted for. However, as expected there are several shortcuts and cutbacks from making this an exact port. Here are but a few…

There is a 300++ MB Install, which goes well to make loading times faster than DR.

No Scenario Campaign mode. In it’s place is a new Story Mode, although it’s apparently still the same as the Arena in the console modes- Prologue illustrations, 4 matches, CG ending.

New Modes. PSP game sees the return of Story Mode (as mentioned above). A Challenge mode menu contains the following play modes- Survival, Time Attack and Gold Rush (the last one wherein every hit on your opponent nets you cash).

No more real-time character models in the Select screen, it’s back to using illustrations as with DR.

No slow-mo replays of the knockout at the end of a round. During victory animation screens, no music plays for some reason.

Customization Shortcuts. Not all the items and clothing made it in- customs for the PSP have been simplified, fusing arm items with upper garments and tops, while bottoms have been fused with leg and foot items. This has to be delved into more to see every little detail retained or lost, but suffice to say, if you loved customizations in the console versions, prepare to lower your standards.

Apparently the 3P extra outfits are NOT in the PSP game.

Practice mode is same as the console versions, but you always train on the same blank, polygon stage (no stage select).

Yes, Lars and Alisa have Story Mode endings. Unfortunately if you have the console versions, you’ve seen them. SPOILER WARNING! Lars’ ending is the SC Intro CG, while Alisa’s ending is her cutscene battle with the helicopter in SC as well- it’s just given a different spin (Alisa stays with Lars and becomes part of his new PMC, fighting the chopper in the course of her first mission). Well, at least they have all-new prologue art…

Well, it seems that Tekken 6 PSP isn’t an exact port- which we all knew going in anyway. But really, I have to say that the cutting back of options in the Character Customization really hurts this version for me- that’s where most of the fun and replay is! All things considered though, Tekken 6 PSP still looks great and is a no-brainer purchase for anyone who enjoyed DR on the portable. At the very least, it’s a great way to practice your combos and up your skills even if you’re far away from your console and HDTV. More on this as we get it then.

According to a post from Tekken Zaibatsu’s Castel…

Fighting during the holidays has never been this fun as NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. Announced today that TEKKEN 6 has gone gold for the PSP ® system and will be available nationwide on November 24, 2009. TEKKEN 6 for the PSP system is rated “T” for Teen by the ESRB and will be available at retailers nationwide on Nov. 24, 2009 and through the PlayStation ® Network on Dec. 10, 2009 with an MSRP of $ 39.99.
Just in time to help shake off the Thanksgiving tryptophan blues, TEKKEN 6 retains all the intensity of its console brethren while providing an extensive single player experience with challenging gameplay modes and robust features. The latest iteration in the TEKKEN series is ready to go. Are you?

Damn. Gotta have my PSP fixed…

Suda 51’s irreverent action game is coming to PS3 and Xbox360.

No More Heroes, the sword-swinging, suplex-throwing, toilet-sitting M-rated Wii title from Japan’s Goichi Suda, is coming to Sony’s and Microsoft’s consoles early next year. Based on the first title in the series, the redone NMH will feature a host of new features, including HD visuals, new advanced modes and something called ‘Erotic Portrait’ (ooh). According to IGN, the game will have something called ‘Sweet Mode’ where the game’s hotties will be dressed in swimsuits and other sexy outfits (as if their default costumes weren’t already hot). The redone title will be renamed No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise and will see release in February 2010 in Japan.

I’ve been interested in Suda 51’s work since Killer 7, so I’ll be keeping my eyes out for this one. Sounds SWEET. Heheh…

Last night, out of the blue, I went to watch Roland Emmerich’s latest world-beating flick, 2012. I went in having read various reviews, some praising, some lambasting the movie. I set my expectations low and just wanted to enjoy the special effects… however I still left the theater with less than stellar thoughts about this film. End of the World films aren’t new to me- Deep Impact still stands as probably the best one I’ve seen so far, taking a very emotional look at what would happen in the last days building up to a worldwide apocalypse. Even with the grim premise, that flick left me uplifted and believing in the human spirit to survive. This one left me jaded, resentful and just tired, not to mention utterly frustrated at the maudlin, clunky script.

2012 opens up in current 2009 with a geologist named Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejofor) finding out from his scientist friend in India that the sun is sending out dangerous neutrinos that are basically microwaving the planet Earth, causing the core to heat up rapidly (why humans aren’t being affected is one of the huge plotholes, I think, but hey, I’m no scientist). From this discovery, Helmsley realizes that this will result in a chain of events which will basically cause the End of the World. He immediately gives word of this to the US government, via White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser (a very ruthless at portly Oliver Platt). Thus a secret plan is set in motion to preserve the human race through giant arks that will ensure the survival of 400,000 select humans (and a bunch of animals, apparently) through the coming armageddon. To help fund the big operation, ‘tickets’ for boarding the arks are sold at the very reasonable price of 1 billion Euros a seat. How… nice.

Anyway, after all this setup, the ‘heart’ of the film is revealed in divorced former writer-turned-limo driver Jackson Curtis (John Cusack), who just happens to be taking his kids camping to Yellowstone Park. In a fortuitous series of events, he finds out about the coming crisis from a pretty nutty conspiracy nut (Woody Harrelson) and soon is racing with his estranged family (including his ex-wife Amanda Peet and her new husband) to find supposed salvation in the China-made arks.

So that’s the movie- about a third of it is about the super-secret and super-stingy operation to save the world’s rich and powerful via their futuristic ocean-going luxury star destroyers (including a captain that seems to have graduated from Star Wars’ Imperial Starfleet Academy). A third of it is all about showing the world getting destroyed in spectacular CG fashion (albeit strangely bloodless and impersonal) by earthquake and flood, while the last third is the clunky, totally ridiculous story of Cusack and the people he uses/tags along with to try and save his family’s skins.

The movie is at its best when it’s a roller coaster ride- though really, Cusack and family are always one inch away from doom so many times, it becomes predictable very quickly. Really though, even from the first time you KNOW that there’s no way they’re not going to make it- which pretty much kills the thrill in some ways, although it’s still fascinating to see all the wholesale destruction rendered so onscreen.

It’s funny- you see Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Hawaii, Italy and Washington fall to ruin with little emotion- it’s all shown as grandiose, cartoony spectacle for the most part. When the movie tries to go in close to show the personal drama of a character’s last moments, it turns out maudlin and yet again, does it far too often with characters who really don’t matter or the audience doesn’t give a damn for; are we supposed to feel worse for the family of a side character than we do for all the countless others lost in the rest of the film? Danny Glover’s defeatist, depressing US president, who elected to stay behind and die in the White House, is woefully pathetic as he spends his last few moments in a useless and pointless gesture right before he gets a tidal wave and an aircraft carrier in the face. Morgan Freeman he ain’t (yet another place where Deep Impact one ups this flick- the black president there was way more sensible and effective).

When it’s not showing wholesale destruction, 2012 sadly bogs down with the adventures of Cusack and company, who are so painful to watch (these idiots deserve a facepalm so many times) that you’d wish they did indeed get swallowed up by the earth. Man, I’d rather that the Indian guy and his family survived instead of Cusack and clan.

Anyway, the film ends with a pretty odd choice of finale; in contrast to how the rest of the film has been occupied with wide vistas of carnage, it all finishes with a rather closed-in conflict with Cusack braving a submerged room full of big gears that he has to un-jam in order to save the Ark from certain doom thereby eliciting a requisite HURRAH from everyone on board (even though he and company were the cause of gears getting jammed in the first place).

I think a lot of my distaste for this film lies in the premise of the US-sponsored, China-made Arks. The whole operation was secretive and selective, and basically gave up the rest of the world just to save a select few. I actually wish that the ending was different- that the Arks ultimately fail and sink and send their nasty contents to a much-deserved drowning death (with Oliver Platt’s slimy Chief of Staff first and foremost), even as we find out in the end that good people were able to go into some hidden valley and ride out the storm to survive. But no, that doesn’t happen. For the most part, the good people of the earth die, and only the very powerful and very rich (along with a smattering of very lucky Chinese laborers and a bunch of super-lucky but otherwise utterly brain-dead nobodies) live to inherit the earth.

Despite some pretty impressive CG, 2012 is otherwise a pretty bad and dragging movie, thanks to a nasty and clunky script that only tries (and fails miserably) to find it’s humanity and redemption at the 11th hour. I’ve never had so many moments where I found myself throwing my hands in the air in frustration. Man, Let it end. Let it end already. Anyway, I guess it’s inevitable that many will watch this disaster, in the same way that you really can’t avoid staring at a car crash when you see one on the road- and this movie is indeed a car crash… on a global scale.

Gamespot just posted a preview of the upcoming Tekken 6 for the PSP, based on a build of the game that has the final feature set. The PSP version will have Arcade, Story, Challenge and Practice modes to keep players busy, along with Network Gameplay . Story mode will apparently have the bulk of stuff to be unlocked (and watchable via the Gallery). The PSP game will have some extra stages not available in the home versions, although it has been mentioned in IGN’s preview that not all the customizations may make it into the portable version. More on this as we get it- check out Gamespot’s preview here.

Well, what can I say? The PSP version is not as pretty as the console versions (but that’s to be expected) but this is a good upgrade from DR with all the new characters, moves and customizations added in. If you’ve got a PSP and a hankering for fighters, then this should be as much a no-brainer as the console versions were. The game is out in Japan this coming January 14, while a November 24 release for the US has recently been posted.