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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

When it shits on Wii, it blasts out in a stream – just like diarrhea. Wii already missed out on Marvel VS Capcom 2 – which is bad enough given the console is actually powerful enough to run the game. Now it’s missing out on Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur IV. Sure, these games wouldn’t be able to run on Wii. But that didn’t stop Namco developing them for the PSP. Yes… Tekken 6 and Soul Calibur IV will be releasing for the PSP!!

Tekken 6 for PSP will just be the standard version of Tekken 6, and not the updated version: Bloodline rebellion which will release for consoles later this year. But the game will not be some badly cut down affair. It will feature the full Tekken 6 character roster, character customization, new items not featured in the arcade version of the game and ad-hoc play.

I lied a little when I said Soul Calibur IV was heading for PSP. The PSP soul game is titled Soul Calibur: Broken destiny. Not a direct port of Soul Calibur IV, but a game which will retain many of the gameplay elements of IV. Returning characters from IV will also have their IV move sets and costumes. The game will feature new game modes and also a couple of new characters. The only new character to be confirmed so far is Dampierre. Who looks like a money swindling, knife wielding gay pimp from a Dicken’s novel.

Namco may as well fly a blimp over Nintendo, Kyoto which reads “F**K Wii!” The Wii flogs more units than the PSP and is more powerful, yet loses out on 2 high profile, blockbuster beat ‘em ups to it! Looks like that PlayStation love still runs deep. Real deep.

PSP owners, rejoice! You just got a couple of good games to look forward to. I guess a Wii port wouldn’t be out of the question entirely. Namco Bandai could always just port the PSP version. It’s not like the Wii version would look THAT much better. (Tee-hee!)

Today in Japan Microsoft held their Xbox 360 Premiere Press Conference. Despite the system’s faltering sales overseas, the event showed that it has the strong third-party developer backing to be the forerunner of this generation of consoles. Take a look to see what’s headed our way after the jump!

Read more!

As was posted here on Dark Diamond a few days ago, Namco Bandai have a brand new RPG in the works for the Nintendo Wii called Fragile. For those who haven’t seen it already, here is the trailer.

If I didn’t know any better I’d swear the game is set in London. The tall clock tower, the nasty public toilets, the desolate railway tracks and a trampy female walking around with a stick and a flashlight. I sure hope the main gal can upgrade that stick and flashlight to a sword and some magicite, otherwise she’s going to have a tough old time staying alive.

The trailer isn’t much to go on really is it? It looks like a anime’d rendition of Silent hill, but with a nicer soundtrack and void of body raping pyramid heads and static radios ringing. But none the less I’m intrigued. It’s definitely a game I’ll be looking out for. It’s usually these low key, back burning titles that aren’t obvious winners that end up surprising gamers and being solid titles.

It’s just nice to know that Namco are working on a J-RPG for Wii. I thought Opoona would satisfy, but Lord knows when that will get a release outside of Japan. And as quirky and as cool as it looks, it probably wasn’t the J-RPG many of us were waiting for. I know it’s about time that a more traditional J-RPG was developed for Wii, but in all fairness these games never release or go into production for a system until it’s been out for a fair old while. So I’ll forgive Namco Bandai for the wait. I think Fragile may be one to watch out for…

[JeuxFrance]

[Official Fragile website]

There is no hope for this game. None at all. It’s like Britney Spears. A lost cause. It looks crappy, boring, bland and plain shit. And not including 2 player online co-op was a big mistake. I actually would’ve considered buying this game if it had included it.

And could somebody tell me why Namco keep insisting on including Sophitia in Soul Calibur games? Do Namco not understand she is a boring and uninspired character? I say they have Nightmare stab her with Soul edge and kill her off. We don’t even need her for the titty factor because Ivy and Taki can hold that end up between ‘em. Just have Cassandra replace her and be done with it. We don’t need two blonde haired Athenian bitches in the game. We don’t even need one. They’re both boring.

Soul Calibur Legends released in North America yesterday, though I doubt anybody knew or even cared. I cannot see this game selling huge numbers. If I was the manager of a video game store I wouldn’t even put it out on the shelf. I’d just send all copies of the game back to the supplier and just put out more copies of Super Mario galaxy. I’m sure the more hardcore Soul Calibur fans itching for some beat ‘em up action on Wii will check this game out. But speaking as a Soul Calibur fan who is itching for some beat ‘em up action on Wii, I won’t be checking it out. I would’ve much preferred a Soul Calibur anthology or even a re-release of the original Soul Calibur with Soul Calibur III’s graphics and some online play.