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First Dark resurrection and now Bloodline rebellion. Namco seem to have caught the bug that had Sega re-release Virtua Fighter 4 and 5 in Evolution and R forms. The new version of Tekken 6 features 2 brand new characters: a dude named Lars Alexandersson and Alisa Bosconovitch and also 2 new stages. Players will also have access to new accessories and have the option to customize the hairstyles of characters. Splendid!!

Lars is some crazy dude who wants to create a new era and has a full name which makes him sound like a member of ABBA. And Alisa doesn’t really have much of a story, though her surname name bares more than a slight resemblance to Dr. Boskonovitch’s. It’s unknown whether or not there’s a relation between the two, but it’s highly likely. Both characters sport a futuristic style and look like they belong in an RPG’s. Lars’ design is somewhat decent - we can work with it. But Alisa looks like a Phantasy star reject. I’m not sure what it is with Namco and their re-release female characters. First Lili and now this Alisa chick. Both look like crap compared to the staple females Nina, Anna, Julia (in the denim mini skirt, cowboy boots and waist coat combo), Xiayou and cool recent addition Asuka.

Tekken 6 doesn’t have a PlayStation 3 release date as of yet, but it goes without saying it will end up on the system at some point and that Bloodline rebellion will be the version of Tekken 6 which gets ported. It will be interesting to see if Namco will let Xbox 360 owners in on the Tekken action; given that Namco spread the Soul Calibur love across both systems and that Sega did the same with Virtua Fighter 5.

Look out for this game in your local arcades. If your arcades are anything like the one I go to, the Tekken 6 machine will be surrounded by guys who eat and sleep on the machine and won’t let anybody else play it.

[The magic box]

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!

Just like every other blog on gaming related news out there, I’m here to bombard you with stuff on Super Smash Bros. Brawl and spoil shit for you in the process. We’ll get to the major spoilers later. But first, the intro to the game.

I know shit loads has been put into the game and that it’s had everything thrown into it but the kitchen sink (which is probably tucked away as an unlockable), but did anyone else find that intro boring? It’s just clips from the ‘Subspace emissary’ mode and clips of in game footage. It would’ve been nice to have had some brand new intro exclusive FMV and also some sound effects. But that’s just me being a fussy bastard. On a non moaning note, I absolutely love the Nobuo Uematsu theme song. A nice reminder of why I fell for his compositions in the first place, because I didn’t like most of the shit he did for Final Fantasy IX and X.

If you’d like to see who which folk have made the cut to duke it out in Brawl, then look below. I warn you, it’s spoilerific.

Read more!

I’ve always liked Captain Olimar. There’s something about his pointy ears, big nose, lack of hair and one facial expression that I find quite endearing. So it’s great he’ll feature in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Near enough all of Olimar’s attacks utilize the Pikmin. Olimar will be able to pluck them out of the ground at will, set them on enemies and swipe ‘em in bitches faces. According to the creator of the game Masahiro Sakurai, Olimar cannot do jack shit without the Pikmin. I’d feel quite bad using the Pikmin for such violent acts and watching them die in battles. I still have nightmares and feel deeply guilty for allowing my entire troop of Pikmin to get munched on by a Grub dog in the first Pikmin game.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl releases in Japan in exactly 2 weeks time. Let’s see if Nintendo can somehow keep a lid on the final character roster until then. I’ll give it a week until some ghetto camera phone quality picture of the final Brawl roster finds its way into a forum.

[Smash Bros. Dojo]

Now those bonus characters right there most definitely an upgrade from Soul Calibur II’s Heihachi and Spawn. I’d love to know how much Namco Bandai had to pay Lucas arts to include Yoda and Vader, because George would not whore those characters out for cheap.

Oddly enough Yoda actually looks like he fits in. Darth Vader, not so much. You can bet that Yoda is going to be as cheap as hell though. Not only will he be the smallest character in the game meaning that most horizontal attacks will go straight over his head, but he’ll probably be the fastest of the bunch and be able to use the force to push characters back and lob his lightsaber as a projectile. It’d be cool of Yoda and Vader both got their own stages too; something the bonus characters were denied in Soul Calibur II. They wouldn’t fit in with the look of the game whatsoever (unless Yoda’s stage was set on the planet of Dagobah), but it’d be cool none the less. Fitting in sometimes goes out of the window during fan service. Vader most definitely needs to have a stage set on top of a Star destoyer with lots of tie fighters and X-wings battling it out in the background as the Death stars looms in the distance. And of course it wouldn’t be complete without “The imperial march” as the stage’s theme song. Awww yeah!

I posted last year about the release of a Reborn! beat ‘em up on DS and now there’ll be a Wii one. I see it’s now a trend that anime’s aired on Japanese TV with a hint of popularity will get made into uninspired looking games.

This looks just like the Naruto and Bleach games. If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear it was actually one of the two. I see originality goes straight of the window when it comes to the development of these games. Reborn! itself looks fun, but I can’t see what it’ll offer that Naruto and Bleach doesn’t. This game is definitely going to be one for the fans of the series. If Naruto and Bleach’s slow defection to the West is a sign of anything, then Reborn! Dream hyper battle will not get a release in neither North America or Europe for some time.

This game was actually released on the PS2 in August of last year. The Wii version is essentially the same. The main differences being the controls and that it covers a different story arc to the PS2 version. I wouldn’t even go as far as to call it a sequel. Look at it this way: If the PS2 version was Super Street Fighter II, then the Wii version is Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

[Jeux-France]

See that! That’s Ryu in-game in Street Fighter IV. Not too shabby huh?! The shot isn’t much to go on, but the character model looks decent. Ryu’s foot has always been massive, but it looks especially chunky now. Look at it!! There is no 6 inch Timberland boot or Air Force one big enough to hold that foot. It’s no wonder he never wears anything on his feet but the odd Geta sandal.

If the Street Fighter stereotypes are as strong as they were 10 years ago, then I’m pretty certain that stage in the shot above is Chun-Li’s. And speaking of Chun-Li, she is set to return in this game along with Dhalsim, Blanka and of course, Ken. I’m certain Capcom won’t do a Street Fighter III and that we’ll see a majority of the Street Fighter II cast return, along with some new faces.

As for the playing style, Street Fighter IV will be in complete 3D, but will have it’s action kept on a 2D plane. I’m going to try and be optimistic about this, as I’m currently having flashbacks of Street Fighter EX. A series that wasn’t all that bad but was far too slow, got worse with every sequel and played and sounded like it was made in the 1980’s.

Capcom are set to release new footage of this game any day now, so stay tuned.

[1UP.com]

Akira Amano’s Katekyo Hitman Reborn! is getting the handheld treatment and will be appearing on the Nintendo DS. For those who don’t know, Reborn! is a Japanese manga and anime about a little 1 year old Italian hitman who trains a a high school student to be a mob boss. Don’t try to make sense of it. Just look at the screenshots and think of the prospect at how cool this game could be.

There’s little to no info on this game, but judging from the screenshots it looks as though this may play similar to Jump super stars and possibly support 4 players over a Wi-Fi connection.

I doubt very much that this game will see the light of day outside of Japan. But the DS is 100% region free. So if you fancy some handheld Reborn! action, you can always import it.

Console gamers can also get in on the action, as Reborn! Dream Hyper action battle will also be releasing for the PS2 on August 30, with a Wii version set to follow shortly after.

[Famitsu]

Super Smash Bros. Brawl will feature a side scrolling action game complete with its only little story told via cool little scenes like this one…

Also, is it wrong that I found Zelda and Peach a little hot in that movie clip? *runs away in shame*

Recently at the Smash bros. Dojo:

• New assist trophy Knuckle Joe!
• Donkey Kong gets down with his Final smash
• The Pitfall item makes an appearance to disrupt the play
• A new challenger enters the fray…

Keeping true to his word, Smash Bros. director Mashahiro Sakurai has been updating the official Smash Bros. website every weekday with information on the forthcoming game. Some interesting, some crap. But none the less I personally think it’s cool that new tidbits of info are leaked daily. I love how this game looks to be coming along and I’m such a Smash bros. fan that I’ll gladly eat up any scraps the developer wants to throw me. So if you haven’t been checking the Dojo daily, here’s a little re-cap on some of the recent reveals.

• Yoshi returns and is “bursting with personality!”
• Rumble falls is revealed as a new stage and looks like a DK themed alternative to the Ice climbers stage from Melee
• An odd new game mode is revealed…
• Sexy Zero suit Samus gets a profile
• Samus’ Final smash is revealed, amongst other things :P

Sometime ago Capcom put up a website which had nowt but flames and the words “New 2D beat ‘em up”. Many sat with baited breath in the vain hope they might get that sequel to Vampire saviour or the Street Fighter 4 game they’ve been waiting 8 years for. But instead, Capcom have hit us all with Sengoku Basra X cross.

Despite Capcom implying that their new 2D beat ‘em up would be a completely original IP, it actually isn’t at all. Sengoku Basara (known as Devil kings outside of Japan) is a series developed by Capcom. The first game released on the PS2 in 2004 and had a similar game setup to the likes of Ninety-nine nights, Dynasty warriors and Samurai warriors. (i.e slashing hoards of enemies in a Sengoku period setting).

Sengoku Basara X will be the series’ first foray into 2D beat ‘em up territory and in a surprise move the game is being co-developed by both Capcom and Arc system works - who are the team responsible for the Guilty Gear series. So that’s pretty much a guarantee we’ll get some sexy high res graphics and not re-hashed CPS-2 system sprites. :P

There are no trailers or screenshots of the game for us to gloat over, no release date and no word if this game will get a console release. But the game will be beta testing across Japan on July 25 and 26. So expect to see the game in action in the upcoming week!

[the magic-box]

Official website: Basara X cross

This trailer confirms what many of us thought when we first saw the game. It will be lackluster. Nothing about this game looks all that interesting does it? Perhaps if Namco boosted Ivy’s breast size or had Taki camel toe, then I would’ve taken more of an interest. As it is though, the game looks pretty standard. The lighting effects are non-existent, the areas look like slightly altered stages from Soul Calibur 1 & 2 and the game looks like it’s running on the DreamCast. The co-op mode looks cool, but I’m not keen on the split screen set up. Hopefully this game will allow co-op play online so both players can enjoy playing on a full screen. Voice chat wouldn’t go amiss neither.

You’d think Namco would give up on these kinds of games after the bore fests that where Tekken Force, Devil within and the horrendous Death by degrees. But hopefully Namco will surprise us. Because it actually would be cool if this game didn’t suck balls. I’d still rather have Soul Calibur IV though.

Gamers in the US will be able to get their hands on this game November 6, 2007.