News for October 2007

Weekly News Roundup: 10/28/2007

Games

Street Fighter II's flame guys never looked so crisp.

Capcom has finally released the first in-game screenshots for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. The game is still a work-in-progress, but the game is looking amazing.

Castlevania creator Koji Igarashi recently had an interview with Wired about all things Castlevania. In it he confirms a new DS Castlevania, reveals his biggest mistake with the franchise, and why you get stuff from whipping candles.

Ys I and II are being re-made (again) for the DS except there will be plenty of new features to warrant a purchase. New enemies, maps, animations, and a multiplayer mode will be added to the classic RPGs.

Burnout Paradise has been confirmed for January 22nd, with a demo hitting up PSN and Xbox Live in December.

Simulation game creator and all around smart guy Wil Wright recently said that the only true "next generation" console is the Wii because it has opened up new demographic of gamers. To him the PS3 and 360 are just better versions of the previous consoles.

Don't know what version of the PS3 to get? Wired's Chris Kohler has made a very handy diagram comparing each of the four available models.

The PS3's The Eye of Judgment cards seem to be easily copied and said copies totally useable. This could get very bad for Sony's real-life game of Yu-Gi-Oh if they don't change something about the cards.

World Heroes Gorgeous is coming stateside, but not as Gorgeous. Instead it will be titled the more sensible World Heroes Anthology, although Gorgeous was different enough to stand out a bit more.

BioWare is making a Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic MMO. Hmm, another Star Wars MMO? Will fans not care for it because Galaxies kind of failed or will the BioWare and KOTOR thing be enough for hype?

While only 18,000 attended the E for All expo in LA, it was still a success and the next show will be in August 2008.

In a weird limited edition twist, the limited edition version of Mass Effect will only be available online.

Nintendo might be releasing their own flash cards so you can download old black and white Game Boy games and play them on your DS.

It looks like the Wii won't get a price cut even though the PS3 and 360 are. Instead the Wii will have a new gift feature where a Wii owner can buy downloadable content and give it to a friend.

Netflix is looking into expanding their movie download service to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

Japanese PC hentai game Married Women Harem - This is the Married Women Paradise Inn has some great promotional material with a store display of fake breasts.

Movies

Resident Evil: Extinction did well enough in theaters for a fourth movie. The fourth movie could have Claire Redfield as the main character which would be good, because "Super Alice" was going beyond ridiculous.

The Castlevania movie is going into production very quickly to help avoid the writer's strike. This rush job could be bad for the film.

- Shawn - 10/28/07

Battlestar Galactica Season Four in April 2008

Perhaps this tantalizing Maxim shot of actress Grace Park (Boomer on BSG) can help tide you over until April 2008.

It hasn't even begun, but there has already been plenty of unexpected twists for Battlestar Galactica's final season. At the end of Battlestar Galactica's Season Three finale were the words "Battlestar Galactica will return January 2008" or something very similar. I was surprised that it was going to be so long until the next season aired. Well there was some talk between BSG big-wigs and it was decided that Season Four was going to be the final season. Then there were rumours that the final season would be split into two parts, with the series finale not airing until 2009 (these rumours are still alive). Recently, there were rumblings in the corridors that Season Three would not be on DVD until April of 2008. It seemed very odd that the DVDs would be out near the mid-season break of Season Four, but now we know why. It was announced today by the L.A. Times that Season Four won't premier until April 2008.

April. 2008. What the frak happened? It was bad enough knowing that the final season wouldn't begin airing until January, but now we all have to wait an extra few months. And why? Well, there doesn't seem to be any answer to why, not yet at least. We know that executive produced Ronald D. Moore will direct an episode, but really, fans are going to want answers to why it's taking so long to get Season Four. Some fans may just give up on the show since it's taking so long.

If we're going to have to wait so long then Season Four had better blow our fraking minds. I guess it's back to watching low-budget non-subtitled Chinese dramas for awhile.

- Shawn - 10/25/07

Direct Link: Battlestar Galactica Season Four in April 2008

Weekly News Roundup: 10/21/2007

This boss from Bionic Commando is scarier before it transforms. Hint: it looks like a huge robo-penis (watch the trailer).

Bionic Commando is finally returning. Capcom showed off the debut trailer and some screenshots of the PS3 and Xbox 360 game at Capcom Gamer's Day in London. The re-imagined a 3D action adventure in a post-apocalyptic future that only a man with a grappling arm can save. Now the bad things: he has ridiculous dreadlocks and was broken out of prison to save the world much like Bill Rizer in Contra: Shattered Soldier and Marcus from Gears of War.

Street Fighter IV. Next year. 'Nuff said.

Street Fighter: The Later Years Part 5. Guile and Ken return! Oh hell yeah!

Not content with merely curing cancer, eight PS3s are now busy solving the mysteries of super-massive black holes. I guess the PS3 has the answer to everything.

The simple Battlestar Galactica shooter will be available on Xbox Live this week.

Japan is getting a cool Butcher figure for Silent Hill Zero (AKA Silent Hill Origins) pre-orders. He looks like a pre-Pyramid Head with a smaller head and knife.

Kotaku has a small update on the Metal Gear Solid box set. Basically, it might come out before MGS4 or it might not.

Nintendo of Japan is finally ending hardware support for the Famicom, Super Famicom, Nintendo 64, Gameboy, and Gameboy Pocket on October 31st. Wow, we thought they would have ended support long ago for the Famicom and Super Famicom.

Okami is coming to the Wii. Now the Celestial Brush should feel a little more natural.

The upcoming PS2 World Heroes collection disc now has the name of World Heroes Gorgeous. I wonder if the title will see a slight name change when it comes stateside.

The previously Xbox 360 exclusive Lost Planet will be heading to the PS3 with all the downloadable content and extras from the 360 and the PC versions already on the disc.

Midway now has their very own artbook titled The Art of Midway: Before Pixels and Polygons. Nice name, except that all the art is from more recent versions of their games such as the newer Mortal Kombats and Gauntlets, The Suffering, Psi-Ops, Area 51, and Stranglehold. We want an artbook of old games.

Hudson has revealed a new character for the upcoming Xbox Live shooter Omega Five. The character is called Tempest and has four arms. Neato.

GamesRadar has a feature on sexy and disturbing game ads.

The 40-gig PS3 has been confirmed for the US and will retail for $399. The console will not have any backwards compatibility if that's something that matters to you or not. At least the 80-gig MotorStorm bundle has been reduced to $499.

Sony is selling a PS3 cell processor plant to Toshiba. Wait, is this really a good idea? Sony and Toshiba are the main rivals in the Blu-ray Vs HD-DVD war so will this impact that wretched battle in any way?

Microsoft and Toshiba may be working on an Xbox 360 with a built-in HD-DVD drive. This is good news for Xbox 360 movie watchers, but bad news overall because now we know that the Blu-ray / HD-DVD format war is not going to end like it should.

Instead of separate consoles, EA wants an open gaming platform that all games will appear on. Perhaps EA can start making this and put all their Madden games on it exclusively. Then such a console would sell.

An old SNES Donkey Kong Country Competition Cartridge recently sold for $727 on eBay. Hmm, perhaps I should think about selling mine. That and my StarFox Super Weekend cartridge.

- Shawn - 10/21/07

Back In Action

Although we were down, we could still shoot it everyday.

You may have noticed that we haven't had an update in nearly a month. Well, here's what happened. The vile SBC machine decided that it didn't like our fleshy faces and decided to take a crap on our internets, giving us zero access to perform our regular updating. We tried a few other modems to get online, but every modem we tried did not even want to power on. Every power outlet at our fortified base was good enough for anything electronic except modems. It was fraking ridiculous.

We then moved our base to a more pleasant location, thereby giving us access to the fully featured teat of Comcast. Although, our internet didn't start right away because Comcast forgot to register our cable modem to our account, a task that is usually the first thing they do. After fixing their obvious blunder we are back online. Our updates will being momentarily, once the unpacking of precious entertainments has been completed.

We haven't been totally lost, though. We were still able to keep track of what has been happening in the world thanks to the Galapagos news turtles. As for games, after we railed through Halo 3, the newest obsession in my area is Everyday Shooter. If you have a PS3 you need Everyday Shooter. It's addicting as hell and I love it.

- Shawn - 10/17/07