Archive for March 17th, 2010

Capcom said that they want to give something special to "Street Fighter 4" owners who buy "Super Street Fighter 4" this year, but they may have something in mind for their fighters as well. I don't know if these allegedly leaked themes that showed up on the Internet are for real, but they look like they will come bearing new clothes for most of the "SF4" crew.

Retro pants, puffy pants and a kinky piece of shoulder armor for M. Bison all appeared in some screen shots gathered together by Shoryuken. Capcom offered some bonus outfits for the brawlers' last outing, so a reprise for "SSF4" would be par for the course.

The alternate costumes look fine, though as Joystiq pointed out, finding anything else for Hakan to wear will be a challenge. I'm predicting a Speedo or a one-piece wetsuit, since anything introducing friction to his fighting would be a problem.

I'm pulling for these duds to be part of a bigger download that's accessible to owners of both the "SF4" and "SSF4" discs, having been a little bummed to see the price tag that appeared on the extra skins last time around.

What do you think of these "SSF4" costumes? Would you pay extra for them if that's how things turn out? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

Capcom said that they want to give something special to "Street Fighter 4" owners who buy "Super Street Fighter 4" this year, but they may have something in mind for their fighters as well. I don't know if these allegedly leaked themes that showed up on the Internet are for real, but they look like they will come bearing new clothes for most of the "SF4" crew.

Retro pants, puffy pants and a kinky piece of shoulder armor for M. Bison all appeared in some screen shots gathered together by Shoryuken. Capcom offered some bonus outfits for the brawlers' last outing, so a reprise for "SSF4" would be par for the course.

The alternate costumes look fine, though as Joystiq pointed out, finding anything else for Hakan to wear will be a challenge. I'm predicting a Speedo or a one-piece wetsuit, since anything introducing friction to his fighting would be a problem.

I'm pulling for these duds to be part of a bigger download that's accessible to owners of both the "SF4" and "SSF4" discs, having been a little bummed to see the price tag that appeared on the extra skins last time around.

What do you think of these "SSF4" costumes? Would you pay extra for them if that's how things turn out? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

Mac-using "StarCraft" lovers collectively squirmed when they realized the "StarCraft 2" beta test preferred PC's at launch, but Blizzard has reassured everyone that a fully Mac-accessible version of Battle.net is on its way, and it could be ready as soon as this April. Blizzard will join Valve, who recently announced Steam for Macs, in embracing the platform this year, and they may even consider licensing Battle.net out to third-party games when all is said and done.

"We are currently working on a Mac version of the beta and hope to release it sometime in April," a Blizzard rep said in an official Twitter Q&A posted to the Battle.net forums. "Hang in there!"

As far as third-party licensing goes, Blizzard's plans are far less concrete. In a surprisingly candid admission though, executive Rob Pardo admitted that the topic had come up at their offices.

"It's something that we've definitely always talked about," he said at a GDC panel, according to The Escapist. "The problem for us is that it takes a lot of work from our other teams. Every time we have the discussion, we try to figure out what's going to happen if let's say a Blizzard game was coming out and a third party game was coming out at the same time."

That's a fair point, but one that should catch the attention of independent studios curious about online framework options for their PC (and soon Mac) titles. It means some arm twisting down the road could trigger such a move.

Are you looking forward to Battle.net opening up to Macs? Do you think Blizzard should license the service out to other companies? Share your recommendations in the comment section below.

Without ruining the end of "God of War 3," it's pretty obvious that Kratos runs roughshod over the pantheon of Greek mythology. Hardly anyone makes it out alive. Which makes the whole concept of a sequel kinda tricky. I asked Stig Asmussen, the game director of "God of War 3," about how you could possibly continue the franchise, given that there's hardly anyone left. His answer may surprise you (but not if you read the headline to this post).

"Greek mythology is finished. That's what we've been saying all along, we're closing the book on the trilogy and Kratos has obliterated Greek mythology so it just becomes a myth. I don't know what's next, to be honest with you, I have no clue, but I wanted to make sure that we had some tools in there that we could kind of resurrect the story and take it some other places."

That's pretty interesting, especially when looking back at an interview I did a few months ago with John Hight, the director of product development at Sony Santa Monica. I asked him what the defining characteristics of the "God of War" franchise are, and here's one of the things he listed:

"Greek mythology is a big part of it. I don't imagine that we'd ever stray away from that."

So on the one hand we have a game director saying Greek mythology is over with, and on the other we have Hight saying that the franchise will probably always revolve around Greek mythology. I believe this is what we call an impasse.

Mac-using "StarCraft" lovers collectively squirmed when they realized the "StarCraft 2" beta test preferred PC's at launch, but Blizzard has reassured everyone that a fully Mac-accessible version of Battle.net is on its way, and it could be ready as soon as this April. Blizzard will join Valve, who recently announced Steam for Macs, in embracing the platform this year, and they may even consider licensing Battle.net out to third-party games when all is said and done.

"We are currently working on a Mac version of the beta and hope to release it sometime in April," a Blizzard rep said in an official Twitter Q&A posted to the Battle.net forums. "Hang in there!"

As far as third-party licensing goes, Blizzard's plans are far less concrete. In a surprisingly candid admission though, executive Rob Pardo admitted that the topic had come up at their offices.

"It's something that we've definitely always talked about," he said at a GDC panel, according to The Escapist. "The problem for us is that it takes a lot of work from our other teams. Every time we have the discussion, we try to figure out what's going to happen if let's say a Blizzard game was coming out and a third party game was coming out at the same time."

That's a fair point, but one that should catch the attention of independent studios curious about online framework options for their PC (and soon Mac) titles. It means some arm twisting down the road could trigger such a move.

Are you looking forward to Battle.net opening up to Macs? Do you think Blizzard should license the service out to other companies? Share your recommendations in the comment section below.

Without ruining the end of "God of War 3," it's pretty obvious that Kratos runs roughshod over the pantheon of Greek mythology. Hardly anyone makes it out alive. Which makes the whole concept of a sequel kinda tricky. I asked Stig Asmussen, the game director of "God of War 3," about how you could possibly continue the franchise, given that there's hardly anyone left. His answer may surprise you (but not if you read the headline to this post).

"Greek mythology is finished. That's what we've been saying all along, we're closing the book on the trilogy and Kratos has obliterated Greek mythology so it just becomes a myth. I don't know what's next, to be honest with you, I have no clue, but I wanted to make sure that we had some tools in there that we could kind of resurrect the story and take it some other places."

That's pretty interesting, especially when looking back at an interview I did a few months ago with John Hight, the director of product development at Sony Santa Monica. I asked him what the defining characteristics of the "God of War" franchise are, and here's one of the things he listed:

"Greek mythology is a big part of it. I don't imagine that we'd ever stray away from that."

So on the one hand we have a game director saying Greek mythology is over with, and on the other we have Hight saying that the franchise will probably always revolve around Greek mythology. I believe this is what we call an impasse.

Spider-Man's fellow Marvel heroes Captain America and Thor have games stewing over at Sega to go with their upcoming movies for 2011. Now, Peter Parker has a post-"Ultimate Alliance 2" solo project of his own to look forward to, and it's called "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions."

The name appeared on the May cover for GamePro, so details may be locked up in the information vault until that hits stands, but just what direction Activision and/or Marvel decide to take the new game in will be interesting to watch, particularly if Spidey's treatment offers any clues about how Marc Webb's film franchise reboot will look.

No one knows exactly what flavor the fourth Spider-Man film will have but Webb likes former "Marvel Universe Online" collaborator Brian Michael Bendis' "Ultimate Spider-Man" series, so betting individuals anticipate a younger, hipper take on the character. That may or may not carry over to "Shattered Dimensions," especially if its development preceded director Sam Raimi's exit from "Spider-Man 4."

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there will be an "Ultimate"-ish tone to this game, but that's just my gut talking. Who knows? Maybe the title means we'll get a multi-dimensional Spider-Man team-up game featuring Spider-Man 2099 and the Scarlet Spider.

What kind of Spider-Man game do you want Activision to make? Would you like to see "Shattered Dimensions" set in the Ultimate universe? Share your suggestions in the comment section below.

Spider-Man's fellow Marvel heroes Captain America and Thor have games stewing over at Sega to go with their upcoming movies for 2011. Now, Peter Parker has a post-"Ultimate Alliance 2" solo project of his own to look forward to, and it's called "Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions."

The name appeared on the May cover for GamePro, so details may be locked up in the information vault until that hits stands, but just what direction Activision and/or Marvel decide to take the new game in will be interesting to watch, particularly if Spidey's treatment offers any clues about how Marc Webb's film franchise reboot will look.

No one knows exactly what flavor the fourth Spider-Man film will have but Webb likes former "Marvel Universe Online" collaborator Brian Michael Bendis' "Ultimate Spider-Man" series, so betting individuals anticipate a younger, hipper take on the character. That may or may not carry over to "Shattered Dimensions," especially if its development preceded director Sam Raimi's exit from "Spider-Man 4."

I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that there will be an "Ultimate"-ish tone to this game, but that's just my gut talking. Who knows? Maybe the title means we'll get a multi-dimensional Spider-Man team-up game featuring Spider-Man 2099 and the Scarlet Spider.

What kind of Spider-Man game do you want Activision to make? Would you like to see "Shattered Dimensions" set in the Ultimate universe? Share your suggestions in the comment section below.

Square Enix is no stranger to the iPhone and iPod touch. They tested the waters earlier this year with ports of their first two "Final Fantasy" titles, and they've got a handful of other generally well rated games on the App Store with "Crystal Defenders," "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" and "Vanguard Storm," among others. The company has a brand new direct-to-iPhone RPG in the works with "Chaos Rings," however, and the first few details emerged in the latest issue of Famitsu.

"Chaos Rings" will sport 3-D visuals and include work by "Final Fantasy VII" character designer Yusuke Naora, according to Andriasang. A menu-based battle system will focus on five pairs of warriors forced to do battle in a tournament. Options available during fights include the standard "Solo," "Pair," "Escape," and "Options" commands.

The final release date hasn't been announced, but there is a Japanese-language website set up by Media Vision that shows off a couple of the characters. The game is slated for arrival sometime in 2010. Just looking at the info gleaned out of Famitsu, this game sounds like a concerted investment on Square Enix's part, putting a couple of noted creators on the project and releasing it to the iPhone first.

Do you plan on checking out "Chaos Rings" when it hits the App Store later this year? What other kinds of original games would you like to see studios do for the platform? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

Square Enix is no stranger to the iPhone and iPod touch. They tested the waters earlier this year with ports of their first two "Final Fantasy" titles, and they've got a handful of other generally well rated games on the App Store with "Crystal Defenders," "Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes" and "Vanguard Storm," among others. The company has a brand new direct-to-iPhone RPG in the works with "Chaos Rings," however, and the first few details emerged in the latest issue of Famitsu.

"Chaos Rings" will sport 3-D visuals and include work by "Final Fantasy VII" character designer Yusuke Naora, according to Andriasang. A menu-based battle system will focus on five pairs of warriors forced to do battle in a tournament. Options available during fights include the standard "Solo," "Pair," "Escape," and "Options" commands.

The final release date hasn't been announced, but there is a Japanese-language website set up by Media Vision that shows off a couple of the characters. The game is slated for arrival sometime in 2010. Just looking at the info gleaned out of Famitsu, this game sounds like a concerted investment on Square Enix's part, putting a couple of noted creators on the project and releasing it to the iPhone first.

Do you plan on checking out "Chaos Rings" when it hits the App Store later this year? What other kinds of original games would you like to see studios do for the platform? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.