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You’ve heard it, you’ve seen it mentioned everywhere on the internet, with your friends, your mom, your grandma and even that nice hobo down the street. Michael Jackson is dead. Now you’ve heard it here too.

Now, child abuse accusations aside Michael was a plastic surgery addict. Ok, ok. Child abuse accusations and bad nose jobs aside Michael was a pretty creepy man. Lets try that again, shall we? Child abuse accusations, bad nose jobs and creepiness aside Michael Jackson was a legendary musician and performer that shaped a great part of pop culture for nearly two decades. Ah there we go that sounded better.

He not only brought us great music but also taught a racism-divided world that color was not an issue and that in fact you could change colors yourself, provided you had millions of dollars and an adventurous doctor.

But that’s not why I want to remember Michael today, no sir, after all we’re all about games and anime. So I want to talk about that other great thing Michael gave us: Moonwalker, The Game.

Read more!

Tekken used to be known for its awesome soundtracks. Take note of the words ‘used to’. Tekken 1 and 2 had great soundtracks. Tekken 3’s was a bloody masterpiece. And then shit went horrendously wrong with Tekken 4. I’m not sure whether key players of the Tekken 3 soundtrack were fired, or if they had mid life crisis’ which head shot their creativity. But something went seriously wrong with Tekken 4’s soundtrack. Game 5 brought things back a little. It was still far from the greatness of what Namco had brought to the table before – but the soundtrack did yield some gems.

One song in particular caught my ear in Tekken 5’s soundtrack, and that was the theme for the Moonlit wilderness stage. It was funky, it was epic and full of awesome. One of the most grandiose and melodic pieces to grace a Tekken game. Fitting, given that it featured on what I felt was one of the series’ best and most ominous looking stages.

I have my fingers crossed that Tekken 6’s soundtrack see’s the audio on top form. I’ve played the game in arcade, but I can barely hear anything. You lot know what it’s like.

Listen: Moonlit wilderness

Tekken 5
© 2004 Namco

For the mp3 players: Moonlit wilderness

Talk about a retro extravaganza. In Shibuya Taito, the arcade giant has set up a temporary exhibition of some of their classic arcade machines, including some of the original Space Invader machines. Of course ‘exhibition’ might be a misleading word for the event. In fact this is a free arcade open to the public in celebration of Taito’s long history and the continued success of Space Invaders’ 3 decades of stealing your quarters.

It really is a shame the arcade market is dying over here in the west, it surely marked some of the best fun in my childhood.

[AK]

I actually got a chance to play this game back in October at an expo in the UK. But having gone to Japan last month, I got several chances to get hands on with Street Fighter IV and kick some challengers arses in the process, which was largely gratifying.

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ZEN Studios announced yesterday that they are working alongside Capcom to release a Street Fighter II themed table for Pinball FX, available on the Xbox LIVE Arcade. While at first this downloadable table (decked out a la Super Street Fighter II Turbo) may seem like a great way to get your fix while you wait for Street Fighter II Turbo HD and/or Street Fighter IV, but upon closer inspection it would appear that this is the equivalent of Capcom leasing out their IP to make a pair of Street Fighter Velcro shoes; its a quick cash in that is riding the on the wake of the Good Ship Street Fighter IV. All aboard? Toot, toot!

Hit the jump to read more and to check out some screens from the Super Street Fighter II Turbo Pinball FX table.

Read more!

Nintendo Wii owning Tatsunoko, Capcom and Street Fighter fanboys rejoice. Capcom latest cross over battle game will be making it’s way to Wii!! The not so good news is that due to licensing issues, there is still a great deal of uncertainty regarding a Western release. But Capcom USA are on the case, so it’s looking hopeful. With any luck Capcom’ll throw down an aluminum suitcase full of money in front of the Tatsunoko exec’s to help sway ‘em…just a tad.

I always had a feeling Tatsunoko VS Capcom would end up on Wii. From the start it seemed like it was potentially going to end up being a pity game for Wii in the absence of Street Fighter IV on the little white box that couldn’t. Not that I was ever complaining mind you. If this is Capcom’s pity, then I’ll take it in spades and skips! I’m actually more excited about Tatsunoko VS Capcom than Street Fighter IV personally. The game looks awesome! But this is coming from a complete whore of the VS. series. I own all the games. Even the God awful port of X-Men VS Street Fighter for the PlayStation. Yes. I am THAT sprung. Read more!

Finally the first US test location of bemani’s (Konami’s rhythm games division) Ubeat is up and running, and I must say, I haven’t quite seen a game like this before. Rather than hitting a handful of buttons in response to on-screen commands, here the buttons and the screen are one and the same, though the massive controller is a 4×4 grid (for the math-challenged among you, that makes for 16 buttons to smash furiously). The player looks for a panel in the grid to light up in time with music, and then taps that panel.

While the idea is simple, the game gets devilishly complicated, as expected of any good bemani title. Early first-hands impressions are glowing, and the lines to play the machine were even bigger than those for the new Dance Dance Revolution X. Another positive is the tracklist, featuring such surprising picks as A-Ha – Take on Me, Aqua – Barbie Girl, and Scatman John – Scatman (Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop) (no, seriously, I’m not making this up). It would be great to see Konami win back its American fanbase of hardcore bemani players, and this game could be poised to do both that and seduce more casual gamers due to its poppy tracklist and flashy presentation. Hopefully the large number of panels won’t scare newcomers away.

[bemanistyle.com]

Here’s a photo from the second DDR X location test in Japan, showing off how the new DDR arcade iteration looks. The screen is much wider than before, and the whole cabinet is more sleek and looks a bit more GAR all around (the logo reminds me of the Japanese Super Smash Bros. Brawl one). As bemanistyle noted, it looks a bit like an IIDX machine.

Other details include more padded bars and modified arrow panels. Also, there are rumors that Brunswick Zone in Napperville IL (known for its godly collection of rhythm games) could serve as the first US test location of the machine.

[bemanistyle.com]

Akumjao Dracula THE ARCADE is going through Japanese test locations right now, and a Kotaku reader sent his first hands-on impressions of the cab in to the publication to tell them all about it. It’s a co-op, House of the Dead-style game, except with whips and subweapons like knives. The whip is controlled by a motion-sensing Wii-mote like device.

It sounds like a lot of fun, and the player said the graphics and music were great too. Even the cabinet looks pretty! But unfortunately I think the chances of it coming stateside are somewhere between zilch and goose egg.

[Kotaku]

I wasn’t 100% sold on this game before, but after having watching that trailer, I’m now a believer and REALLY want to play this game. Having Ryu’s classic theme kick in towards the end just brought it all home. It would be cool if we got cool revamps of the classic Street Fighter II themes. Sure, they’re as old as hell and have been overplayed to absolute death. But none of the new themes Capcom have given the Street Fighter II crew in the past have ever stuck like their classic themes – despite being funky and not that bad.

As awesome as that trailer was, it didn’t show us everything and there is more. Every character will have their own set of anime style animated sequences!!

So this means the death static JPEG’s of character sliding across the screen for intro’s and endings!! Capcom should’ve been doing this from yonks ago. I think they were possibly one of the only beat ‘em up developers who weren’t putting animated intro’s and endings in their games. But I guess it’s better late than never. The screen shots look really cool. And even though the Street Fighter cast don’t have the richest and most compelling back stories – the animated sequences definitely look as though they’ll be bringing something interesting to the table.

Between the hot graphics, the awesome looking gameplay, the return of classic characters, animated sequences and online play – Street Fighter IV is shaping up to be a must own for fans. If we get an EX+ alpha style Training mode, and Alpha 3’s World tour and Dramatic battle modes – then this game could be the explosive return to form that many have been waiting for.

Street Fighter IV is slated for a tentative July release in arcades, with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions set for release in February 2009.