Archive for March, 2011
Happy Birthday Street Fighter II!
Mar 31st
20-years-old this month! Back in March 1991 Street Fighter II was unleashed on arcades across the globe and it changed, perhaps even began, the 2D beat-em-up genre. Sure there were fighters before it but none of them exploded and created the scene that Street Fighter II did. With its cast of eight playable characters and four bosses, each with their own fighting style, different moves and specials it was always destined for greatness. And of course the accidental glitch of cancelling normal moves into specials basically defined the mechanics of every fighting game since then.
Now obviously there have been many many articles, faqs, player guides, tutorial videos and everything else you can imagine written about Street Fighter II, and its many iterations afterwards. Even the Wiki on it goes into so much detail that there’s no point in me trying to retell it. So instead I will bore you with the story of my relationship with Street Fighter II.
It begins in Weston-Super-Mare, a particularly dingy seaside town off the west coast of England. I can’t actually remember why I was there, but I do remember it was raining and I was at that age when arcades were the most exciting places on Earth. The games, the graphics the sounds – everything was way better than my home computer (which was either a Commodore 64 or Amiga at the time) it was like a sensory overload, especially after walking in from the rain.
Anyway there is was, I’m sure I’d read about it somewhere before (Commodore User or some other mag) but that really didn’t compare to seeing the massive screen, the arcade machine with integrated seats and of course the two sticks with six buttons each! Even better – no one was playing it! The fools!
So I sat down, fired in the old big 10 pence pieces and hit the player start button. And then sat gawping at the character select screen. I mean who do you pick on your first go? The girl? The sumo? The guy with weird hair? The karate dudes? In the end I chose Blanka. And off I went jumping and mashing and wondering what the heck was going on.
Yeah I got killed in the second fight. And then had to go home. One flipping go on the greatest beat-em-up of its time and I had to leave. I was mentally being dragged kicking and screaming out of there. And worse than that was that it was about a year before the arcade at home got Street Fighter II in and even then there wasn’t exactly a scene so it actually took some time before I even realised there were special moves in the game!
Well I was doing okay with Blanka: jumping hp, cl mp, cl mk and that would usually dizzy them at which point I’d walk up and do cl hp which in those days was a damaging two hit somersault claw attack. Of course none of that was comboed into each other – I didn’t even understand the meaning of the word. But it served me pretty well when fighting through single player. Most of the time it was just me fighting the computer – there weren’t any other people there to fight against, everyone else there were the hard kids from school who just played on the gambling machines, which always seemed like such a fruitless endeavour to me…
So I didn’t actually get to fight anyone until I bought a Mega Drive and Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition. By then I’d read a lot of magazines and learned how to do combos, bought the official six button pad (which I still think is one of the best pads I’ve ever used, though now I use a stick) and so I set about destroying all my friends who weren’t able to sit at home practising all day.
At one point I got it into my head that you got different end screens if you completed it without taking any damage all the way through on the different difficulty levels. And by god I sat until I had completed it on the hardest difficulty setting (with Ken, I’m sorry) without taking damage, two perfect rounds each time and got..!
Nothing. I have no idea why I thought that I would. But (tragically) that is one of my proudest achievements in my life.
That’s where my incredibly long story of my experience of Street Fighter II ends. After that there were various dalliances with Alpha (though on the PSone, so it didn’t look right), EX Plus Alpha (ahem) before I moved on to Tekken. It wasn’t until around 2005 that Street Fighter entered my life again with the release of the Anniversary Collection and Street Fighter III: Third Strike. But that’s long winded tale for another time. Hadouken!
The first Street Fighter
Mar 31st
Today is Street Fighter II’s birthday! But we’ll come to that later. In the meantime Kotaku being Kotaku with their own wonderfully deviant ways have written up a post commemorating the very first Street Fighter game. You might remember it, it’s the one that had massive rubber buttons which you had to punch to activate the various strengths of punches and kicks in the game. It’s a good thing that was changed – we can’t imagine it would have been very popular at tournament level…
Anyway check out Kotaku’s retrospective here and relish in the old school Ryu in the video below:
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – Debut Trailer
Mar 30th
Earlier this week we confirmed the upcoming release this Winter of Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and now we’re bringing you the chance to have a sneak peak at the outbreak that is spreading its way across the city in the form of a debut trailer. Expect the return of a familiar face, iconic landmarks and classic enemies as the Umbrella Security Service battles to destroy all evidence of the deadly T-Virus.
Code to Unlock Exclusive Platinum Figurine for Street Fighter IV 3D
Mar 30th
Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is out along with the 3DS. It’s time we gave you early adopters something awesome to unlock for your game. As you probably know, one of the new features of SSFIV3D is the figurine mode. While you can get figures through the game, there’s a few ways to get ultra special figurines.
Namely, a code you can input to get shiny heavenly platinum coated fighters. Look at this Ryu figurine! It’s all glittery and shiny and in-your-face 3D like you’ve never seen. More specifically, it’s an Exclusive Platinum Level 7 Ryu!
How do you get said shiny amazingness? Simple, boot up your 3DS and Super Street Fighter 3D Edition, and enter this code: DPrkMnybCd
Evil Ryu: this is how he works
Mar 30th
Thanks to GLHF.TV for compiling this video.
And here’s a translation of the Super Street Fighter 4 Developer’s Blog from USD at NeoGAF for some more indepth discussion on his abilities.
CHARACTER SUMMARY
-Evil Ryu is a character with a strong close- and mid-range offense, but weak defense. He can take out opponents, or be taken out in one stroke
-Same health and stun as Akuma (850 health/850 stun)
-His jump is the same as Ryu’s, but his movement and dash are different
NORMAL ATTACKS
-His composition of normals consists of a Ryu base, with some of Akuma’s as well as some all-new normals.
-He has Akuma’s j.HK, st.HP, cr.HP, cr.HK
-New normals: cl.HP, st.MK, cr.MK
-The frame data on the moves are adjusted, so though they have similar motions, they might have different frames
-Same cancels/Super cancels as Ryu
-cr.MK is based on 3rd Strike Ryu’s
-7F start-up, so it doesn’t link with any of his normals, but since it has better reach than Ryu’s, it works well as a low poke
UNIQUE ATTACKS AND TARGET COMBOS
-His unique attacks are Zugai Hasatsu (Akuma’s overhead), Senbukyaku, and Tenmakujinkyaku (Akuma’s dive kick)
-Senbukyaku is the same move from the Alpha series
-It allows Evil Ryu to attack while avoiding low kicks, but can be blocked low and puts him at a frame disadvantage
-Without hitting your opponent, it’s effective at moving Evil Ryu into throw range
-Target combo is cl.MP → cl.HP
-Its damage isn’t particularly high, so you might not find many places to use it, but since it’s a simple motion and you can delay the attack, it’s difficult to punish
SPECIAL ATTACKS
-His specials are Hadoken, Shakunetsu Hadoken, Shoryuken, Tatsumaki Senpukyaku, Mid-air Tatsu, Ashura Senku (Teleport), and Ryusokyaku (Dragon Claw Kick)
-Of those, Ryusokyaku is a completely new attack
-In the early creation stage, some were of the opinion of giving Evil Ryu the Jodan Sokuto Geri (aka the Mule Kick from 3rd Strike), but it was decided to give him a new move more befitting of his image
-Used alone, the attack is slow to come out, but you can can cancel into from L, M, and H attacks, it’s a strong but flashy move.
-If you have bar, you can perform top-class hard-hitting combos with the move
SUPER COMBO
-His Super Combo is Shun Goku Satsu (aka Raging Demon)
-Since you will use Evil Ryu’s EX moves often, you might not use his Super much, but when paired together with the Senbukyaku, it’s an incredibly powerful technique
ULTRA COMBOS
-Ultra Combo I is Metsu Hadoken, Ultra Combo II is Messatsu Goshoryu
-UC1 is fundamentally the same as Ryu’s, but doesn’t do much damage
-However, you can hold the buttons and charge the attack. Fully charged, it does more damage
-Fully charged and at close range, it does even more damage
-It might be difficult to create a situation where you can land it, but try it out
-UC2 is a horizontal Shoryuken, so it might be a bit difficult to use as an anti-air, but you can combo the move from FADCs
-It does high damage, and by itself, with the full cinematic, it does the same damage as Ryu’s Metsu Shoryuken (500 damage)
OTHER
-The boss version is very different from the playable version
-High difficulty, and can unleash some incredible attacks that will make you doubt your eyes
-If you ever have the chance to fight him, you have the developer’s blessing
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D – Introducing Jill and Wesker
Mar 29th
Today we have an exclusive look at Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D as we reveal Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker as part of the cast! Check them out in action in this video!
The Perfect Marriage
Mar 28th
Ninja Theory, Blue Castle Games, Dimps and now Slant 6 – “you’re my wives now” as the wonderful Papa Lazarazu from the League of Gentlemen used to say… The fact that Blue Castle Games has chosen to change their name to match ours just shows how into our relationship they are.
The way that Capcom makes games with our partner studios is much like a perfect marriage… except without a wedding bit, which is a shame as seeing the fat crying bridesmaid and great uncle George performing the whole Las Ketchup dance routine with his tie around his head when a development deal is signed would be amazing.
These Capcom developer relationships are not some drunken one night stand where we hand over the goods and then leave never to be seen again, but a long term partnership. From start to finish there are always two in this relationship, working hard. Perhaps from the outside people look at our marriage and wonder what each party brings to the table, but we don’t choose to get married to anyone lightly, we spend plenty of time getting to know them, finding out the way they do things, their thoughts, ideas and interests, what makes them tick and what makes them angry. At the same time the developer can get a good look at the nuances of working with Capcom and how we like to be involved in every development decision. Basically between the two parties we’re looking to create the most perfect children or games if you are already bored by this long winded metaphor.
Who for example would have thought that a company that made two baseball games would be able to nail, so completely, the nuances of the Dead Rising universe? Or a company better known for platformers to amazingly ‘get’ the fighting mechanics of the best selling fighting game of the past 10 years? Capcom did. We hand picked these development partners to work with us on our games, and after the initial courting period, we knew that working together would create amazing results.
It’s not always perfect, but when both parties work hard at something together you can create something beautiful, if you end up picking the wrong partner, or if both partners don’t dedicate them fully to the partnership it can go wrong and end in messy divorce, and you know who suffers the most? The kids.
We Love Japan Fundraiser!
Mar 28th
We Love Japan – Japan Society Tohoku Earthquake Fundraiser
Relentless Garage, London – Sat, 02 April 2011 at 19:00
The WE LOVE JAPAN charity gig will be taking place at The Relentless Garage, 20-22 Highbury Corner, London, N5 1RD on Saturday 2nd April.
There will be an exciting line-up of new and established acts with a very Japanese edge. Most of the bands originate from Japan originally and are now based in London including iMMa, No Cars and Kuaigora. And there will also be a set from Akira The Don and DJ sets from Japan Underground and the fabulous Mr Iain Lee of Absolute Radio and the 11 O’Clock Show.
In addition to the live performance we will also be running a Karoake Club, Cosplay Portrait booth and hosting a raffle with several high value prize packs on offer. Which sounds like an incredible night out and fr a good cause too! You can buy tickets from HMV Tickets.
Doors open at 7pm. Strictly over 14s, under 16s with an adult/Photo ID required.
Art update!
Mar 28th
Remember UK winner of the MVC3 art competition? Well he’s updated his entry to include the full character roster! (Some of the characers hadn’t been announced that the time of the competition.) Looks awesome!
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Mar 28th
Capcom bestätigt “Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City” und kündigt Demo-Version von “Resident Evil: Revelations” an
Neueste Horror-Titel demnächst erhältlich für Heimkonsolen, PC und Handheld
Hamburg, 28. März 2011 – Capcom®, einer der weltweit führenden Entwickler und Publisher von Computer- und Videospielen, kündigt die Entwicklung von Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City für PS3, Xbox 360 und PC an. Darüber hinaus bestätigt das japanische Unternehmen, dass der kommende Nintendo-3DS-Titel Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D eine spielbare Demo von Resident Evil: Revelations beinhalten.
Mit einer für diesen Winter anberaumten Veröffentlichung, wird Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City derzeit in Zusammenarbeit mit dem in Vancouver beheimateten Studio Slant 6 Games entwickelt. Seit dem Debüt der Serie vor 15 Jahren verbucht Resident Evil einen phänomenalen Erfolg: Über 45 Millionen Einheiten wurden weltweit bis dato verkauft. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City wird die Reihe in eine komplett neue Richtung drehen und einen Spielstil liefern, den es in dieser Form bislang innerhalb der Marke noch nicht gab. Der Titel bietet eine waschechte Team-basierte Third-Person-Shooter-Spielerfahrung im dunklen und bösen Resident-Evil-Universum. Die Geschehnisse aus vergangenen Tagen in Raccoon City erfahren dabei eine Neu-Interpretation. Dieser Schauplatz bietet dabei nicht nur einen reichhaltigen Hintergrund für satte Action, sondern im Kampf lauert eine weitere Gefahr: Zombies und Bio-organische Waffen (B.O.Ws) geben sich ebenfalls ein Stelldichein und stellen im Gefecht gegen gegnerische Truppen ein unvorhersehbares drittes Element dar. Auf diese Weise etabliert Capcom einen komplett neuen Gameplay-Stil und bricht mit den Konventionen traditioneller Team-basierter Shooter.
September 1998 – Die tragischen Geschehnisse rund um das vom Unglück verfolgten Raccoon City sowie die entsetzlichen Konsequenzen, die der Ausbruch von Umbrellas tödlichem T-Virus nach sich zog, stehen erneut im Mittelpunkt. Um die Situation zu verschleiern, schickt Umbrella ein Elite-Team nach Raccoon City mit dem Auftrag, alle Beweise zu zerstören und jegliche Überlebende zu eliminieren. Davon in Kenntnis gesetzt, startet die US-Regierung eine Gegen-Offensive und entsendet ihrerseits eine Spezialeinheit in die Krisenregion, um Beweise sicherzustellen, die auf eine virale Verseuchung seitens Umbrellas hindeuten. Spieler übernehmen die Rolle eines Soldaten der Umbrella Security Services (U.S.S.), um allein oder gemeinsam mit bis zu vier Spielern im Koop-Gefecht gegen die Gefahren und Widersacher in Raccoon City zu bestehen.
Originale Resident Evil-Gegner kehren zurück, unverkennbare Orte wie beispielsweise das Raccoon City Police Department dienen als Schauplatz und beliebte Charaktere wie etwa Leon S. Kennedy sind mit von der Partie. Als frisch gebackener Police Officer in Raccoon City steht er ganz oben auf der Todesliste aller zu eliminierenden Überlebenden. Spieler erleben eine Neufassung klassischer Resident Evil-Momente aus vergangenen Serienepisoden und betrachten die Geschehnisse aus der unheilsbringenden Perspektive von Umbrellas Security Service. Erstmals liegt es in der Hand der Fans, die Geschichte der fatalen Viren-Katastrophe neu zu schreiben.
Zusätzlich umfasst Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City eine Vielzahl an Online-Multiplayer-Modi. Jeder dieser Modi wird dabei eine einzigartige Spielerfahrung liefern, da dort jeweils die drei unterschiedlichen Kräfte aufeinandertreffen: Umbrella Security Service, US Special Ops sowie Zombies und B.O.Ws, die nur im tödlichen Universum von Resident Evil existieren.
In den folgenden Magazinen, die im April/Mai 2011 in Europa und den USA erscheinen werden, wird Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City mit Previews vertreten sein:
