See more impressions afer the jump: [Read the rest of this entry…]

At the end of last August, this countdown went up, and the gaming scene went crazy. Sure it wasn’t exactly Marvel vs Capcom, and granted, these companies have worked together before, particularly on the Dynasty Warriors vs Gundam franchise (which just saw its third title released this past summer), but this could potentially be huge. What could this signify? Could Taki and Mitsurugi be joining Samurai Warriors’ Yukimura Sanada and Magoichi Saika on the battlefield, killing thousands of enemies? Could Soulcalibur 5 be seeing Ryu Huyabusa stepping onto the stage of history? Could Dynasty Warriors 8 see Lu Bu weild the dreaded Soul Edge against the three kingdoms? Could DOATEC be sponsoring the next King of Iron Fist Tournament, allowing Hayate and Kasumi to do battle with the Mishima Zaibatsu? Could the Fatal Frame 2 sisters be teaming up with Rick and the Terror Mask to discover the secret of Splatterhouse? Could the secret agent duo from Rolling Thunder be teaming up with Rygar and his mighty diskarmor? Could Paul Pheonix and Marshall Law be hitting the field in Tecmo Bowl with Nina and Anna as cheerleaders? Could we be getting a sequel to Winback featuring Gituaroo Man? Could that douche from Winback join with that guy from Time Crisis to thwart the mother of all terrorist attacks? Could the ladies of Tekken and SoulCalibur be joining the DOA girls on the beach? It would be a week before gamers would find out.

Then a week passed.

And boy, was it a letdown….
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Day 2 of Toyo Game Show was just about as awesome as Day 1. I played a LOT of fighting games, including BlazBlue which I had just played for the first time. At a tournament. In public. With the editors of big magazines like Famitsu. Oh dear…

We don’t have a video up yet of that fateful event, but if you want to hear more just listen to the Famicom Dojo Podcast for details!

Also, this Angry Birds tshirt was given to us by two of the developers (whom we happened to randomly meet outside of the show). Check out the TwitPic! It’s for an expansion to the game that’s all Japan and Ninja-themed to help them break into the last market where their game is not completely dominating the sales charts. Will you buy it?

This is why I love arcade games from the 85 – 95 period. One look at a cabinet like this, and it isn’t hard to see what inspired this game. Modeled after buddy cop flicks like Tango and Cash, Starsky and Hutch, and Miami Vice, Lucky and Wild is an on-rails shooter/racing hybrid. You set out to catch a series of drug dealers by driving and shooting at them. The cabinet has a steering wheel and two guns attached. The idea is that player one uses the wheel and first gun while player 2 uses the second gun. Of course there are several unofficial ways to play the game as well, either increasing or decreasing the difficulty. Player two can use player one’s gun (thus saving quarters), player two can use both guns (thus freeing player one for driving), or a player can use player two’s gun while player two uses player one’s gun. It’s not the end-all of arcade games, but it was a pretty clever concept, one that could use a revisit in this age of motion capture gameplay.

Time Crisis was, and is still a trendsetter in the Arcades. Along with it’s polygonal graphics (which were pretty cutting edge at the time and still hold up well even to this day), the game also added a key innovation to the light-gun genre: the Duck Pedal. When you pressed the pedal, you popped out from under cover ready to take on enemies. When the pedal was depressed, you hid behind a nearby object where you could reload. However, each section was on a strict time limit, so you couldn’t hide underneath forever. When you played the game with another person in the game’s sequel, they played on another screen that was hooked up to the arcade cabinet, and they saw the action from a slightly different viewpoint. This was in contrast to two people looking at the same screen and being forced to take every bullet shot at them like other light gun games have done for years. Time Crisis Project Titan was a PlayStation-exclusive entry in the series. Playing as Richard Miller of the V.S.S.E, you fight to clear your name for the attempted assassination of Cuba’s President. The game contains the series’ signature duck and hide action, and you can even hide in different places by shooting the yellow arrows while the player is hiding. Oh yeah, and if you didn’t get it with the original PlayStation port of Time Crisis, TCPJ comes with a guncon for PS1. Of course it’s painted in a day-glow orange color so police won’t recognize it as a real weapon. Although TCPJ’s graphics were a bit dated at the time compared to the rest of the series, the game is still a fun light gun shooter with a gimmick that’s still clever even today.

Welcome back to the stage of history!
Soul Calibur, easily Namco’s 3rd or 4th most popular game series, will return to PS3 and 360 in 2012.

There is potential for a big shakeup in the series, as this chapter takes place 17 years after the events of Soul Calibur IV. Nightmare and Siegfried Schtauffen are confirmed for a return, but the primary protagonist will be the son of Sophitia Alexandra, a new character named Patroklos. Will fan favorites like Ivy, Taki, or Voldo be too old to join the fight? Will they also be replaced with heirs to their fighting style? No guest characters are inferred or expected, but a history that includes Link, Kratos, and Darth Vader means we can probably expect that reveal in time.

In a time when revivals of Street Fighter, Mortal Kombat, and Marvel VS Capcom are bringing 2D fighters back into vogue, Soul Calibur will proudly continue its 8 way run traditon, giving fighters full control over the field to dodge and attack.

Full press release follows…
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Well, once again, today is my birthday. Although I’m the one hitting the big 3 to tha 0, you’re the one getting the present, just like we do every year. So click below, and get a quadruple dose of $20 GOTW/Lost Classics goodness.
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Tonight, Saint Nick will go about his rounds and deliver presents to all the good boys and girls. Tomorrow however, you’ll most likely be getting together with family. And we all know how much families hate each other, to the point where they want to beat the ever living shit out of one another. So instead of beating down your loved ones in real life, why not check out these games that let you do it in the video game world?
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