Gaming News (477)
This year's Evolution Fighting Game Championships boasted some of the most surprising results to date. These included two pad players, Shizza and Vance “Vangief” Wu, placing top eight in Super Street Fighter IV, Taiwanese sensation Bruce “Gamerbee” Hsiang eliminating US champion Justin Wong, and top two placers for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix were both new school players, shutting out legends like Daigo Umehara and Jason “Afrocole” Cole. To America's devastation, Umehara managed to take the gold in Super Street Fighter IV, keeping northern California's EG.Ricky Ortiz at second place. A stream was available at both G4TV and Shoryuken, but it crashed several times throughout the weekend due to technical difficulties, most notably during the Super Street Fighter IV grand finals. Hopefully this won’t be an issue next year and the stream’s producers, Level|Up, will take note. Videos of the finals are available at EVO’s Youtube channel here. Results after the jump.
[Source: Shoryuken]
Starting July 29, new white and black 160GB PS3 and black 320GB PS3s will be available in Japan. These will retail for ¥29,980 ($342) and ¥34,980 ($399) respectively. The white PS3 is certainly good news because there’s no indication that it is a limited run, which will open it up for people who want to buy systems in different colors but not want a decal that says “Final Fantasy XIII” on it. The slowly increasing hard drive size is becoming a bit of a nuisance, considering that few things can actually take up the 120GB on current models, much less the 160GB or 320GB that will be available. Considering that the old models will be replaced by the newer models, however, at least consumers won’t have to pay extra and a lucky few can even snag the remaining older models at discounted prices. No word yet on a US release.
[Source: GameSpot]
In addition to being a competitive tournament and free LAN party, Quakecon shows off several notable games from id Software and its associated companies every year. This year is no different, with id Software confirming Brink, Fallout: New Vegas, and Hunted: The Demon's Forge. Seeing as how these games were all present at E3, press and industry members really have nothing to be excited about. On the other hand, fans should take advantage of this and make plans to attend Quakecon 2010. Quakecon 2010 will take place from August 12-15 in Dallas, Texas and is free to register. For more information, visit Quakecon's website here.
Shown off at E3, Final Fantasy XIV will be released on September 30, 2010. For those who want to get in on the beta, the PC collector's edition will offer beta keys starting early July. While the beta is a nice treat for fans who will buy the collector's edition, it seems like they won't get much time with it before the game comes out. It's also a shame that the standard version won't include a beta; it would have really hyped up the game for players who did not play Final Fantasy XI or did not want to drop almost 80 dollars on a game. Hit the jump for system requirements for PC players, new features, and exclusive collector's edition contents.
Level-5, famous for the Professor Layton series, will be opening a development branch in both the United States and Europe. The United States branch should open in Santa Monica later this year around September. We can only imagine how this would improve the Professor Layton series, which is already popular in the west. Perhaps the studio will create a brand new series that appeals to the west and gets imported to Japan instead? We'll have to wait and see.
NIS America announced on Friday in a newsletter that they are offering two lucky groups of fans a chance to attend their annual press event in San Francisco on July 15, 2010. NIS America has mentioned that they may be bring a few industry guests from Japan, typically members who are related to whatever game they are announcing at the event. In this case, our bet will probably be staff members from Gust for the pending release announcement for Ar Tonelico 3. Our guess is that Ar Tonelico 3 will be playable at the event with kiosks set up around, so this a great chance to try the game and give the company your feedback. Talk with the company's representatives, mingle with members of the media, and of course chow down on the free food ans drinks! You can enter the contest here.
Check out our reports about the past NIS America press events here and here.
We received an invitation to NIS America's press event today mentioning announcements for new unnamed titles as well as special industry guest appearances. NIS America also slipped in an extra image of 2 characters silhouetted behind curtains who resemble Ar Tonelico 3's Saki and Finnel.
There also seem to be 2 characters next to them pixelated, though we can't make heads or tails where it's from. We've included the image inside, see for yourself. Let us know what you think. We'll keep up updated on any new announcements.
The iPhone has been successful in application (app) sales since the App Store launched in 2008. With over 200,000 apps available for purchase or download, more than 30,000 apps are games. The increasing popularity of the iPhone has caught the Japanese game industry’s attention, and within the last year, began porting or developing games for the iPhone. We have decided to feature various games developed by Japanese companies in an ongoing multipart segment.
Rolling with the momentum that fighting games have gained these past two years, Shoryuken has just unveiled a teaser trailer for the fighting game that many thought would never come, Marvel vs Capcom 3. So far, no gameplay details have been released yet, but the end of the trailer shows a clip of Ryu in the same graphical style of the recently released Tatsunoko vs Capcom: Ultimate All Stars, perhaps pointing to the same engine being used or a slight upgrade of it for either the PS3 of Xbox 360. The trailer features Ryu, Morrigan, Chris Redfield, Wolverine, Iron-Man, and The Hulk, solidfying them as selectable characters.
Update: full press release from Capcom included.
As reported before, Capcom will be hosting an event commemorating the launch of Super Street Fighter IV. The event will run from 8PM to midnight on Friday, April 23rd in Los Angeles, CA. While there is no specified address yet, Capcom has already revealed that it will be somewhere in the vicinity of Silver Lake. For those who don't live in the area or can't make it, Capcom will even be streaming the action on their official ustream page! As with any Capcom event, expect lots of gaming action and freebies! More details after the jump.
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"FanimeCon, Aksys Games, and Arc System Works are proud to announce video game creators Daisuke Ishiwatari and Toshimichi Mori as Guests of Honor at FanimeCon 2010.
Daisuke Ishiwatari is famous for creating the Guilty Gear video game series. While he denies having created the game single-handedly, his extensive work on the series includes an eclectic assortment of talents.
Toshimichi Mori also has many talents. He not only directed and produced the BlazBlue video game series but also designed the characters and wrote the scenarios."
FanimeCon 2010 will be held at the San Jose Convention Center from May 28 to 31. Both men appeared previously in America at Anime Expo 2009. You can check out the guests list here, and make sure to check out the interview we conducted with Ishiwatari and Toshimichi here.
According to Kotaku, coinciding with Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Hideo Kojima will begin a world wide tour starting in April 29 to July 25. Hideo Kojima, famous for his work on the Metal Gear and Zone of the Enders series, will surely be met with large crowds. Be sure to mark your calendars and attend if you hope to see this iconic game designer! Tour list after the jump.
Through its twitter, Capcom Unity has announced an event in Los Angeles on April 23. Referring to readers as "Street Fighters," the tweet is likely hinting at a launch event for Super Street Fighter IV, which will come out on April 27. Little else has been revealed at the moment, but if the event will be anything like Street Figher IV's launch, fans can expect a night of Street Fighter, a chance to see some of the most important people in the Street Fighter community, and a plethora of freebies. Be sure to come back as we'll update with more info as it comes in.Prince of Persia Creator and Casts Heads to WonderCon
Written by Theodore Mak
Disney's movie adaptation of Ubisoft's Prince of Persia The Sands of Time video game has been confirmed to appear at this year's WonderCon. Tentatively scheduled, Producer Jerry Bruckheimer, Director Mike Newell, actor Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Prince Dastan, and interestingly, video game designer and creator for the Prince of Persia series, Jordan Mechner, are set to appear at a 12:15PM panel on Saturday April 3, 2010. Mechner is one of the first and currently only video game creator to adapt his own creation. WonderCon is hosted by the same organizers as Comic-Con International in San Diego, and will be held at the Moscone Center South in San Francisco from April 2-4, 2010.