Eurogamer Interviews Yoshinori Ono on Streetfighter X Tekken

Eurogamer just posted a quite meaty interview with Capcom’s Streetfighter Boss, Yoshinori Ono. This was apparently done some time ago, in fact during the time of the last Comicon, so don’t expect too much new stuff. Still, the questions asked are pretty good and the answers not too evasive. Anyway, us game fans probably want every scrap of into on the upcoming “Fighting Game Festival” that we can grab.
Ono-san talks about Streetfighter X Tekken, the future of Streetfighter IV, its arcade and mobile incarnations and the future of the fighting genre in general. Check it out here.

Dead or Alive: Dimensions Trailer

The first new DOA fighter appears on the stage!

Here’s the first trailer video for the upcoming 3DS fighter, Dead or Alive: Dimensions. As seen in the stills so far, the only confirmed characters yet are the ninja fighters- Ryu Hayabusa, Kasumi, Hayate and Ayane. Evil Raidou, the boss from the original DOA, is back and seems even stronger than he ever was before. Tag Team play also seems to be back. So far, nothing truly new (aside from Raidou’s Kamehameha thing and Kasumi’s kinda frumpy new outfit)… hopefully we’ll see more fighters, fight mechanics and better duds if this is thinking to be a challenger in the present fighting genre. More as we get it then.

New Look for Ninja Girls in Dead or Alive: Dimensions

Ayane and Kasumi are sporting new threads for the 3DS.

Fighter’s Generation just posted the above pic, showing the two kunoichi sisters, Ayane and Kasumi, as they will appear in the upcoming Dead or Alive: Dimensions for the Nintendo 3DS. These are, I assume, alternates to the girls’ traditional costumes, and hopefully will be just one set of many- because darn, don’t these ones look pretty boring. I mean, it’s like Team Ninja’s designer lost his libido or something. What’s with those crappy cycling shorts on Ayane? Is that homey knitted scarf on Kasumi really part of that outfit? Overall, both of these duds are… duds. Well, to me at least. Hopefully they get more and better costumes.

Anyway, at this point we still only know four confirmed fighters for the game (Kasumi, Ayane, Hayate and Raidou), so I’m hoping for a more substantial update soon (with a trailer, at least). Aside from the 3DS version, I’ve been hearing rumors that DOA is also headed for the PS3. More on this as I get it then.

Tekken Tweets! Straight from the Harada’s Mouth

Tonight was a fruitful night of Katsuhiro Harada dropping hints about his upcoming beat ’em up sequels. If anything though, the best thing we can glean is that, YES, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 is headed for consoles after the arcade release (as if there was ever any doubt). Now then, the info we’ve gathered are…

The order of release for the ‘Fighting Game Festival’ series of titles will be as follows: Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Arcade), Streetfighter X Tekken, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 (Console), then last but not least, Tekken X Streetfighter.

Four player simultaneous play is being considered (for TTT2).

The Tekken Team is aware that Bonus Games (such as Tekken Bowling) are popular, and as such are considering adding such modes in TTT2.

Character Customization will be available for TTT2, although when asked if it will be the same as that in Tekken 6, Harada said that they are ‘planning new system for console’.

Character Customization will also be available in Tekken X Streetfighter.

As before, the Tekken characters will speak in a variety of languages and not just Japanese.

An alarming number of Tweets are asking for Harada (and Ono) to be Boss Characters in their upcoming games.

The one disappointing thing in all this? If we go by the mentioned time table, there won’t be any proper and canon Tekken sequel, apparently for the next two years or so. On the one hand, this may ensure that when indeed the game known or considered as ‘Tekken 7’ appears, it should have the same leap in graphic quality as T6 did from T5DR, as well as inclusive changes in gameplay and content. The upcoming TTT2 and TXSF are both still within the family of Tekken 6, mostly sharing the same look and feel (as far as we know).

Oh well. No word yet on when we’ll see the next big update for any of the upcoming Tekken games, but thankfully we have a nice bird to tweet us these little bits. More as it comes!

Streetfighter Legends: Ibuki #4 Review

More ninja than you can throw a smoke bomb at.

After several months, UDON’s first comic series with Streetfighter III kunoichi heroine Ibuki is done with the release of Issue 4. Saving the big stuff for last, the finale contains a big ninja free-for-all as well as a big reveal before the ninja schoolgirl bids farewell for now.

Jumping right into last week’s cliffhanger with Ibuki, Makoto, Elena and Sarai being captured by the evil Geki clan, Issue 4 sees the bunch fighting back and getting some help from Ibuki’s ninja buddies from the Glade of Ninja. As fists and kunai go flying, we are treated to a quick but meaty revelation of both Ibuki and her ninja ‘family’s’ origins, as well as a nifty little glimpse of Ibuki if she was raised by the Geki… nah, I prefer the kunoichi cutie the way she is.
Anyway, it all ends well with a victory for the good guys, Ibuki going off to a new life as… a NINJA. Oh, and then Ibuki and Makoto FINALLY get to have their long-in-coming, proper fight… and THEN it ends. Darn it! Oh well… If you wanna see Ibuki and Makoto actually fight, you can always just pop out a copy of Streetfighter III Third Strike or Super Streetfighter IV.

As usual, artist Omar Dogan’s panels and pages are consistently clean and colorful, particularly with lots of nice fiery action during the climax. While there’s quite a bit of action as the young heroines and the Glade Ninja take on the Geki, with signature moves being thrown in for fans of the games. It all ended a bit abruptly though- Geki fans will probably be quite disappointed in the off-screen death of the lead baddie. The ending seems to tie in with Ibuki’s own ending from the videogame SF3 Third Strike, and as usual it’s open-ended. I’ve seen on the Udon and Omar Dogan’s Deviantart pages that more Ibuki or perhaps some of the other SF heroines (or a villainess) may be the subject of the next SF Legends series, so who knows… if fans ask for it, they may get more kunoichi in the future.

The first series with Ibuki was fairly enjoyable and does the character well. I certainly would welcome further adventures of the schoolgirl ninja, but I’m also particularly intrigued with perhaps a Makoto-centered series. Or perhaps something with Taekwondo Femme Fatale Juri. Only the future will tell. For now though, if you love ninja or Streetfighter, catch this series, or the trade, it once it sneaks into stores.

The Latest Harry Potter Trailer is EPIC

It’s gonna be hell waiting for Part Two.

I’ve always been a fan of the Harry Potter movies, even if I’ve only read one or two of the actual books. The peerless production, casting and continual development of the films from director to director has always been for the better, and it looks like they’ve saved the best for last. The final book of the series was judged too long to cram into one movie, which I’m sure is for the best. Part One already seems goddamn awesome with these trailers dishing out absolutely oppressive atmosphere, desperation and menace for the young Potter and his friends, and of course all of the Wizarding World. So check out the trailer and get ready for one heck of an adventure this November.

Valkyria Chronicles 2 (PSP) Waging War with Class

Back to School in Gallia.

For the past week or so, once again, I found myself neglecting the big ol’ PS3 and Xbox360 in favor of Sony’s handheld. The game in my sights is Valkyria Chronicles 2, the sequel to the under-appreciated classic on PS3.
The game is set once again in that anime-fantasy version of post WW1 Europe, in the Ragnite-rich but tiny state of Gallia. It’s a couple of years since the end of the big war with the Empire portrayed in the first Valkyria Chronicles, and things seem fine on the macro-scale. Unfortunately while the scrapes with outside threats have quieted down, internal conflicts are beginning to sprout like evil weeds. A rebellion has erupted in the southern regions, threatening to spread out and engulf the whole country if the current reigning ruler doesn’t step down. With Gallia’s standing army still in tatters, the militia unable to act due to legal technicalities, it’s up to the armed academe of Gallia’s Lanseal Academy to protect the civilian populace and put down the extremists. And they have to do it in between Math classes at that!

Ah, Lanseal Academy. You just have to love a school with its own munitions factory.

Man, now that I’m thinking about it, how dumb is the Empire to get on the Gallians’ bad side- I mean, these guys are probably the Israelis of Europa… they send their kids to school to become killing machines… I would NOT want to take on a country where schoolkids are armed with rocket launchers and state-of-the-art main battle tanks, would you?

Anyway, players now have a new main character in the form of Avan Hardins, a country lad and somewhat exceptional underachiever who suddenly finds himself following the steps of his late brother. Soon enrolling in Lanseal, he finds himself at the head of the school’s most troublesome class and headed into some fierce skirmishes. Will the intellectually-challenged but always-optimistic Avan be able to mold his classmates into the deadliest company of warmongers Gallia has ever seen? That’s up to you!

Like the first game, VC2 is mainly about sending your squad into combat, which is a combination of turn-based maneuvering/positioning on a set number of battlezones, with actual shot-by-shot fighting being handled by you actually moving a soldier’s sights on a target and then letting ‘er rip. In addition to the Scouts, Shocktroopers and Lancers from the first game, you also get to use handy Engineers and rather hardy Armored Techs in your squads. As you fight and level up, your can unlock new skills and even advanced classes to switch into, such as deadly Snipers, close-combat Fencers or anti-personnel Mortarers, or even the dreaded musical Anthem Corps!

Fans of the first game will be happy to know that some familiar faces will show up in VC2, and not just in simple cameos.

In between missions, you’ll also interact with Avan’s classmates- an unruly lot to be sure, consisting of all the troublemakers in Lanseal. You have everything from bullies to prima donnas, closet otaku, control freaks, outcasts and the odd blue-blood. But the more you use them in combat and get to know these problem kids, the more they’ll open up and be all that they can be- all the better soldiers to defend Gallia’s freedom from the rebel menace.

It’s all told in some entertaining cutscenes with anime-style talking heads and rudimentarily-animated character art which will either endear you or have you pressing the Start button to skip ’em. Personally, I found these little interludes quite entertaining, and now I’m addicted to unlocking every single one of my classmates’ stories. Gotta befriend ’em all!

It’s not all high school drama of course- you also have to juggle training your troops (raising levels), managing rosters to see who goes into combat and even developing new weapons and equipment for both your soldiers and your company’s lone but formidable tank. Your vehicle is customizable, able to be configured from turret to body to paint jobs, to fit missions from search-and-destroy to escort services. What a fun place Lanseal seems to be- it’s like Blackwater the School!

The game looks great on PSP, though purists of the original game will surely take issue with the degradation of the ‘watercolor’ style from before. Regardless, the game looks fantastic, both in the art and the in-game assets. For me the light-hearted art style is fine, and the tone of the game, mixing often comedic high school antics with war and politics is perfect for anime fans. Platoon this ain’t, but then, could you really expect realistic, gritty warfare in a world with big-eyed anime soldier babes complete with school crushes? The replay value also seems to be high as there are tons of options and stuff to unlock in the course of the game (including characters from the previous game) which you may miss the first time around.

The game wouldn’t be complete without some silver-haired, overpowered Valkyria babe in there somewhere…

In any case already well over 30 hours into this game, which is a lot more than I can say for the original. This is already quite the hit, and the sequel, Valkyria Chronicles 3, is already on the way. Perhaps, once I finish this I may just go back and revisit the original PS3 VC. This is a title that’s perfect for taking along on your PSP for a nice, long, addicting and satisfying strategy RPG/school-and-war sim. HIGHLY recommended!

10 Minutes of Bioshock Infinite

Man, don’t mess with Pinkerton guys…

Here’s a pretty awesome 10 minute gameplay clip from the upcoming Bioshock Infinite, the sequel to 2K’s critically-acclaimed genetically-enhanced shooter. Previously we’ve only been told of the events in this clip, but now we can see it in all it’s violent awesomeness. Plasmids are back, including faves like the lightning bolt and telekinesis powers, but there are definitely some cool new things you can do in conjunction with your lady friend. Rapture seems so far away from Columbia, but the familiar madness and manic action is pure Bioshock. This is still a long way off, but like the original, this video should go a long way to keeping us occupied with all the little details in it. Check it out!

The Lone Gamer’s Review of Resident Evil: Afterlife

Alice returns to kick some Umbrella ass.

Last night, feeling particularly weary in the head, I allowed myself to be beguiled by a larger-than-life standee of Milla Jovovich’s Alice character into watching the latest Resident Evil flick, Resident Evil: Afterlife, directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. You know, I’ve been pretty hard on the RE flicks for one reason or another, though really- I’ve never really given them that much of a chance. I don’t think I’ve watched any of the first three movies in full (only bits and pieces on cable), given that I’ve had preconceived notions against them that prevented me from sitting down and just watching them.

The first movie, Resident Evil, turned me off right away by not including any of the game heroes and instead giving us an altogether new main character in the amnesiac Alice (Milla Jovovich). With few scares aside from the cliche jolts and some stylish kills, this wasn’t my cup of tea then.
The second movie, Resident Evil: Extinction, gave us Jill Valentine (Sienna Guillory) and Carlos Olivera (Oded Fehr), but clunky pacing and a somewhat cheesy Nemesis turned me off again.
Then there was Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which is usually called the best of the three first flicks, although again I got turned off by the desert setting (Too Mad Max). I did like the action and the inclusion of Claire Redfield (Ali Larter) and the flick ended with a cool premise.

And here we are with Resident Evil: Afterlife. Picking up sometime after the last movie, it opens in Tokyo, Japan as Alice makes good on her promise to pay the main branch of Umbrella a visit with some of her ‘friends’… the friends being her army of identical, super-powered clones. Of course, it’s not entirely easy to assault a heavily-armed underground complex headed by Umbrella Chairman Albert Wesker (Shawn Roberts) himself. By the end of it, all the clones have gone bye-bye and Alice herself has been reverted back to a normal human (albeit still a kick-ass human).

The rest of the movie concerns itself with Alice trying to find Arcadia- a supposed utopia where safety from the infected can be had- as well as her comrades from the previous movie. She’s at least partly successful; she soon finds Claire, albeit crazed and stricken with amnesia care of a weird device planted on her chest (shades of Resident Evil 5). The two make their way to Los Angeles, where they find more survivors trapped by hordes of undead within a prison complex, and what is apparently Arcadia- a ship- sitting just off shore. Of course nothing is what it seems and even if Alice and company manage to escape their deathtrap, something, or someone, even more sinister awaits on the ship (guess who…) ready for ANOTHER final showdown.

So what can I say? Incredibly enough, I kinda enjoyed myself in this flick. As I said, my brain was weary and I was just looking for some dumb, cool and pretty action- and this delivered. Afterlife is easily the most ‘videogame-ish’ of the RE flicks so far, giving us more stuff that you can identify with from the games. You’ve got both Claire and Chris Redfield (Prison Break’s Wentworth Miller) joining Alice in the good fight. You’ve got the Executioner from RE5 that shows up as a ‘sub-boss’ in the movie’s signature action setpiece, although I wonder how this guy made it all the way from Africa to LA (he rode the boat, I guess).

You’ve also got Super Wesker, who may look and act ripped from the Matrix movies as Neo and Smith’s love child, but hey- surprise, surprise- that’s the way he was in the games as well. At the movie’s climax is a cool fight between Wesky and the Redfields which also mirrors the in-game confrontation between him, Chris and Sheva Alomar in RE5.

So what we have is the closest the movies have come to the games- plus Milla Jovovich’s Alice is more likable here than in any of the previous flicks, with the heroine showing a sober humanity and a cool attitude that I found refreshing… even if Milla’s line delivery during her video logs rivals the deadpan plainness of Sam Worthington from Avatar. In any case, I liked her enough to care about where the flick was going, so there.

On the other performers, Ali Larter is always nice to watch. Wentworth Miller’s Chris is off-kilter, pretty much so we’re supposed to think he’s a bad guy at first, which will only work for anyone not familiar with the games. The other cast members are mostly throw-away red shirts, although fellow survivor Luther (Boris Kodjoe) is quite likable. Shawn Roberts’ Wesker is a bit too stiff, but again, all he needs to do is look cool in a long black coat so what the heck.

One thing you’ll notice as well is that the movie looks pretty slick- this is shot and produced really well, with pretty nifty futuristic settings and tech, as well as well-shot action. There’s also an excessive use of bullet-time and slow-motion, but heck… I’ll take that over all the stomach-turning ‘handheld cam’ style of crap other action movies are shoveling us. Oh, and yeah, this flick looks great in 3D.

Despite not straying away too far from the B-movie standard and having a script with more holes than a zombie after getting riddled with Alice’s coin-filled shotgun, Afterlife at least kept any slow parts to a minimum and kept me entertained with some stylish action and some cool monsters. In fact, I was so entertained that I am actually now ready to give all the other previous RE flicks at least a full watch each when I get the chance.
One gripe though is the way they end it- there are sequel hooks that are as big as a Las Plagas tendril, making it quite obvious that like a zombie, this franchise is gonna keep on coming at you. Amazingly though, I don’t think that’s entirely a bad thing.

This is just big budget, slickly-produced eye candy action with no pretensions- just hot chicks with guns blowing away monsters. There are far worse things to occupy two hours of your time with these days. Expect no more, and who knows, you may just be surprised to walk away entertained.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2: The Story So Far…

Fighting games in 2011 look bright, indeed!

Fight fans all over are surely excited for the newly-announced Tekken Tag Tournament 2. I know I am. This is the closest we’re getting to more of our Iron Fisted Fave in the near future, and unlike the Crossover entries in the ‘Fighting Game Festival’, we don’t have to wait too long to see tag team action, Tekken-style. So, what do we know and what do we wanna know about this hot future fighter?

What’s so hot about it? The original Tekken Tag Tournament came out about 10 years ago in arcades, then went on to a superior PS2 console port. The ability to tag in your partner and do tag-in combos wasn’t new at the time (Dead or Alive 2 already got into the tag-team game first), but TTT was certainly a big hit in arcades, and many fight fans consider it the most fun Tekken.
TTT was also favored for including many fighters long missing from the canon series, such as Jun Kazama, Michelle Chang and Kunimitsu. Also popular was the end boss, Unknown, who was easily the hottest digital babe to sport black body paint.

Tekken 6? Not. Thinking that TTT2 is just Tekken 6 with added Tag Teamplay? Not really, sez Harada-san. The game will be using a NEW graphics engine that has the muscle to display up to four fighters onscreen at any one time. Also, the character models will be further upgraded and improved from Tekken 6.
As for the gameplay, the early trailer has shown that at the very least, the Bound! System from Tekken 6 will make a return. Also in will be stuff like multiple levels/floor breaks and walls. Aside from all that, Harada-san says to expect all-new game mechanics to combine with the old to make TTT2 gameplay very different from what we’ve seen so far.

Long in the Making. TTT2 isn’t just a spur of the moment thing- it’s been in the works for a while. In fact, Harada-san and the Tekken Team have been intending on doing a sequel to Tag even before the release of Tekken 6. Things have happened since then and apparently the time is now right and ripe for us to see two-on-two action again from Tekken… just in time to match up against the upcoming Mortal Kombat, I guess as well.

Crowded House. According to Harada-san, TTT2 will sport the BIGGEST roster yet in a Tekken game. Yep, even bigger than T6, which currently holds that record. What can we speculate? For starters, we can probably expect everyone from Tekken 6 to come back. Harada also mentioned in his Twitter that they are considering old characters as well- Jun Kazama, Kunimitsu, Michelle Chang? Maybe these ladies should start checking if their fighting costumes still fit… they may be seeing action in the near future.

Fashion Fighters! According to Harada-san’s Twitter, Character Customization will be back in Tekken Tag 2. Here’s to all the stuff before with tons of new outfits and items added!

Who’s the Boss? What final enemy awaits at the end of Tekken Tag 2’s fighter’s road? In the original, it was Unknown, a female fighter who many believed (perhaps erroneously) was a possessed Jun Kazama. Will she make a return? Or will it be an inexplicably young Heihachi Mishima– the mysterious, smiling figure from the trailer? Knowing how the Tekken Team has handled this so far, all we can expect is… the unexpected.

When? WHEN??? Early word is Summer 2011 in Japan. Of the three games in the so-called ‘Fighting Game Festival’ (this includes the two Crossover Fighters), TTT2 will be the first to be released. That’s actually not too far away, but that’s for an arcade release. When will it come to consoles? No clue yet, but according to Harada-san, they are aware that many territories outside of Japan (US for example) don’t have a big arcade scene thus they will try their best to get the game to these fans as soon as possible.
Here’s hoping that this means a console port (to both PS3 and Xbox360) sooner rather than later as it was with Tekken 6.

There surely will be more information and content from TTT2 coming in the weeks and months ahead, as I believe that Harada-san will only be too glad to give their baby more attention instead of Tekken X Streetfighter, which is still far, far away. More as we get it then!