All Topics Gaming older than one year ago

Ever since Super Street Fighter IV was revealed, purchasers of the first game have leveled their criticism directly at Capcom (some of them more vulgar than others) for supposedly devaluing the first title by releasing an updated version with extra features and characters. But now it looks like Capcom may be ready to send some love back the other way: Its VP of Business Development, Christian Svensson, says to MTV Multiplayer that for "those who have purchased and played Street Fighter IV on the system that they play [the Super version] on, there will be a nifty little special set of things that those people will have the option of enjoying that others won't."

That's awfully vague -- "purchased and played?" "Special set?" "Things?" "Enjoying?" -- No, wait, we do understand that last one. But clearly Capcom has some 'splaining to do. It sounds like an SFIV save will enable some bonuses (characters? costumes? stages?) in SSFIV, and that would make sense, but we'll wait for more details before we can be sure that players who bought the first version get everything they think they deserve. You know, besides the chance to own and play the game for over a year before the next version releases.

Certainly sounds a bit better than the one that’s going to voice the North American version! Check out the website here for the video

#gamerepublic Namco Bandai announced today that it will release Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom in North America this summer, allaying fears that you'd never see the game formerly known as Majin: The Fallen Realm on these shores. Whew! More »

Looks like you can pick up your Monster Hunter 3 demo from GameStop right now, as some locations have already received their shipments. Run out to your local GameStop to grab your own! Thanks to Keyz for the heads up!

#voiceacting The voice actor for the lead character in L.A. Noire is "Mad Men's" Aaron Staton, while Staton says he enjoys games, particularly Grand Theft Auto IV, he usually skips over the cutscenes. More »

While not quite the 94 review average that Modern Warfare 2 eventually ended up with, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is off to a generous start on Metacritic, averaging a 90 as of this writing. The developers at DICE have certainly kicked up some dust in challenging the monolithic multiplayer of MW2, but it remains to be seen what will eventually shake out online. For now, we've got the single-player reviews for you, just below:

• GamePro (5/5 Stars): "Bad Company 2's unexpected emphasis on survival skills caught me completely off guard ... The radical change in pace forced me to think and react differently to the situation than I normally would, and it made for an incredible experience. Bad Company 2 definitely has the necessary chops to give the current king of, well, modern warfare, a run for its money.."
• GameDaily (9/10): "Combat is both intense and exhilarating. Nothing beats unloading a few grenades at a house and watching the ammo tear chunks from it while dead bodies sail through the air. Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is an immensely entertaining shooter that demands your attention"
• Official Xbox Magazine UK (8.0/10): "While the likes of Call of Duty and Gears of War lead you into bottlenecks where they can dazzle you with explosions and special effects, Bad Company 2 feels more like a diluted sprawl of ideas across a large canvas. This variety ensures things stay interesting but it makes it a solid rather than spectacular effort. You'll enjoy it, but will find that you struggle to recall any standout moments once the credits finally roll."
• Totally Video Games: (7/10): "While Battlefield 2: Modern Combat (on previous-gen machines) and the original Bad Company both featured standalone single-player campaigns, both fell well short of the kind of gameplay we've come to expect of the Master Chief or Sergeant 'Soap' MacTavish. Unfortunately, DICE still hasn't turned the corner with its single-player design in Bad Company 2."

If there's anything that all the chaos between Activision and Infinity Ward in the past 24 hours has taught us, it's that no one is safe and dry under Bobby Kotick's umbrella. And while Call of Duty: Modern Warfare was one of Activision's biggest earners, that hasn't stopped the company from revamping the brand however it sees fit. So what about Activision's other big game, Blizzard's World of Warcraft? The same annual report released to the SEC yesterday that kicked off the Infinity Ward shakeup also mentions that Activision is worried about WoW becoming "obsolete," and that the regulatory issues in China could affect the entire company's bottom line.

So will we hear about Mike Morhaime being frogmarched off of the Blizzard campus? Not likely -- the fears about WoW are all in a section of the report labeled "Risk Factors," in which a company must disclose anything that could possibly go wrong with its financials in the future, just in case. In there, Activision worries about everything from credit card fraud to its ESRB ratings -- WoW is mentioned a lot because it makes up most of the revenue (in fact, one of the worries is that Activision depends on WoW too much), but these are all worst case scenario guesses. The report admits that Blizzard did decrease its net revenues last year, but then credits that to no new releases in 2009 and interrupted licensing fees from China. Assuming Blizzard releases both Starcraft II and Cataclysm as planned in 2010, the odds are low that Activision will raise the axe in that direction.

The best of the best help you become a multiplayer superstar.

The best of the best help you become a multiplayer superstar.

#clips Let's take a look at the innovative new vehicle upgrade system Avalanche Studios developed for Just Cause 2. It's simpler than you'd expect! More »

#innovation You play a game on Facebook. I'll play one on Xbox 360. Our winnings will contribute to the same side of a virtual reenactment of World War I. Behold, the first Facebook-360 gaming link, launching this week. More are coming. More »

#cinema Did you ever play Space Invaders and, while you were dodging and firing and shooting, make up a story about who was in the tank and wish you could someday see them in a movie? Yeah, I didn't either. More »

#announcementsofannouncements Set your DVRs accordingly, kids, as GameTrailers TV promises a *sound of explosion* world exclusive premiere trailer for "a surprise Sony sequel" on Thursday night's episode, suggesting that this announcement of an announcement is PlayStation 3 related. More »

The long-awaited underdog football title is finally about to hit retailers.

Come see the woman you love.

We're plugging away at the Engineer update. He's an interesting class to work on, because he creates a larger footprint in the game than any other class. This means we have a lot of options to work with, and the resulting set of ideas is truly daunting. Since we've already built and playtested some things that haven't worked out (with no false modesty, I think we've mastered the art of rapidly making things that aren't fun), we thought it might be interesting to give you some of our failed experiments.

Well, congratulations, internet, you got it completely wrong. The image above and to the left is the "democratically" chosen digital box art for the upcoming XBLA title, Raskulls. It won over the image to the right by a minuscule 15 votes. Just look at it. It tells you nothing about the game. It's just a skull king dude pointing. Now look at the image to the right. You see that the king is searching for something, a precious gem of some sort. What's more, he is clearly not the only one, as he is pursued by many competitors and what appears to be a giant, flying pirate ship. Also, there is a laser. This is box art. This is the stuff of great literature. Alas, the public totally flubbed it.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we have the electoral college.

I don’t know that too many of you are going to pick this one up, but if you are you can make your purchase intent known on Club Nintendo. Thanks to Chris for the heads up!

Oh, yeah, this game exists.

Tragic news today as we report that, due to the detonation of a hydrogen bomb on a weird island in 1977, Tony Hawk Ride developer Robomodo has shifted sideways into a reality running parallel to our own. We may not have all the details, but we've got all the evidence we need here in this Gamasutra article.

As you know, here in our reality, Tony Hawk Ride was a poorly-received, overpriced game and peripheral that moved only 114,000 units during its first month at retail. In this parallel world though, the studio calls the game "high-selling" and is looking to actually increase its staff by as much as 17 percent in the near future for upcoming projects "across all platforms." The developer added that, at least in its dimension, its debut game is "very compelling."

You know, maybe it's not so tragic, after all. As near as we can tell, Robomodo and Ride may be better off in this other reality. Perhaps it's best if we just let them be.

Happy Tuesday! Mick here again with the “goods” on this week in DLC goodness!

New This Week
Canyons Costume for LBP PSP (free) – Get a sneak peek of what’s in the Canyons Theme Pack with this free costume!

Canyons Theme Pack for LBP PSP ($2.99) – Download a new set of goodies to create your own Canyons-themed levels. The Canyons Theme Pack includes two costumes, 19 Create materials, 15 stickers, one music kit, and one background.

In Case You Missed It
White Knight Chronicles Costume Kit for LBP PS3 ($5.99) – Characters from the awesome new RPG for the PS3 have come to LittleBigPlanet! Grab all four White Knight Chronicles character costumes in the pack and save, or choose from your favorites for $1.99 each.

Last Chance

Groundhog’s Day Costume for LBP PS3 (FREE) – Once a year you have a chance to download this costume for your SackPerson and see if he or she can see their shadow. Act fast, as this costume is coming down this Thursday!

#ruhroh Federal authorities say a Florida man exported PS2s to a Paraguayan mall believed to be a front for the terrorist organization Hezbollah. He's been indicted on 11 counts tied to the funding of terrorism. More »