The UK's official Xbox 360 magazine posed an inevitable question to Street Fighter IV producer Yoshinori Ono: How's it going to play online? For his part, Ono was quite frank, saying, "Obviously lag will be a huge problem for online play. We're working on it. It's quite difficult for 3D Street Fighter at the moment."
Asked how the developer is going about, er, combating the problem, Ono got technical. "In order to prevent the lag we're thinking about trying to balance it up at [the] user interface level and input timing," he said. "We still haven't got a complete plan as yet. We're still working on it. That's all we can say at the moment." Okay ... we'll let you get back to that, then.
So what's the problem with the Joker's Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universefatality (seen at about 3:40 into the video after the break)? Well, nothing per se, it's a perfectly silly, violent way for the criminal mastermind to finish off his foes, and is actually surprisingly brutal for the game's Teen rating.
No, the only real problem is what the attack isn't. As fans of The Dark Knight know, the Joker's real fatality is blindingly obvious. Because, honestly, who doesn't love a good magic trick?
Street Fighter IV is unlikely to have exclusive console-specific characters (like Soul Calibur IV) when it releases next year, the game's producer tells Videogamer. Yoshinori Ono believes the idea of exclusive characters is unfair -- and that extends to "downloadable characters" as well.
Yoshinori expresses that this is only his "policy," however, so we won't rule out the influence of the Capcom overlords. SF IV is expected on consoles around the time the Street Fightermovie releases in early 2009.
How nice of you to join us. Do you have any idea what time it is? We were expecting you weeks ago! Well, no matter, go and take your seat with the rest of the Virtual Console class so we can begin.
Samurai Shodown 2 (Neo Geo, 1-2 players, 900 Wii Points): SNK's 1994 follow up to Samurai Shodown finally slices and dices its way onto the Virtual Console this week, bringing back most of the original's weapon-wielding cast, as well as several newcomers vying for the opportunity to skewer anything that moves with a pointy blade and sharp Engrish wit.
Ys Book I & II (TurboGrafx 16 CD-ROM, 1 player, 800 Wii Points): Nihon Falcom's enhanced remakes of the first two titles in the Ys saga finally levels up for the US Virtual Console. Offering roguelike-style combat and music we still find ourselves humming at the dinner table, this is a download not to be missed by role-playing fans with eyes for the classics.
First introduced to the world in Super Street Fighter II, the be-thonged British secret agent / world warrior, Cammy, will "definitely" appear in the home versions of Street Fighter IV, producer Yoshinori Ono tells 1UP.
Capcom conducted a poll on its blog last month, asking users which classic character they'd most like to see return for the console and PC ports. The list included T. Hawk, Dan, Ibuki, Sakura, Hugo, Fei Long, Dee Jay, and Cammy. In addition to revealing the winning fan favorite, Ono hinted that Tokyo Game Show may see – along with the PS3 version of SFIV – the unveiling of another home-only combatant: the fabled Sheng Long. If he does show up, you'll surely have to "defeat him" to "stand a chance."
Sega has a mighty lineup on public display (and behind closed doors) at Leipzig Games Convention 2008, comprised of titles from the East and West. MadWorld and Bayonetta, its collaborations with former Clover Studios staff, are there, as are Sonic games, strategy titles, DS wares, and more. But there's nary a sign of PSP support to be found. And it was doing so well with games like Crush. Ah well. You can check out screenshot galleries of everything Sega has on show after the break.
Let's put a smile on that face by checking out Midway's latest batch of Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe screenshots, rife with cross-dimensional brawling and enough continuity issues to drive fanboys round the bend. While you enjoy the sight of The Joker blasting Scorpion right out of the Batcave or the Green Lantern putting the squeeze on Shang Tsung, we'll frantically attempt to figure out how Ed Boon managed to steal all our closeted fan fictions.
If these guys don't pummel your fancy, Midway has also informed us that series stalwarts Raiden and Kano will join the game's kombatants, along with the DC universe's Wonder Woman and Deathstoke.
We wouldn't blame you if you'd forgotten that Capcom was likely to bring the first in its Alpha series of 2D fighters over to Sony's digital playground. Honestly, we have trouble remembering what we had for breakfast last week. Nevertheless, Capcom has confirmed that Street Fighter Alpha (or Zero if you swing that way) will be the latest classic PSone game to hurricane kick its way over to PSN when it debuts this Thursday. So, yes, PS3 owners, you may not be in on the SSFIITHDROMGBBQ beta, but at least you're getting something, right? Don't be so greedy.
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix's recently extended "open beta" got a technical hadouken this morning, addressing a number of the issues faced by the redrawn brawler, from connection lapses to frozen consoles. Other changes include Ken's newly-nerfed dragon punch, while Capcom says that the overall online experience has seen around a 50% improvement.
Notes a post on the company's blog, "While we can't do anything about high ping times, we've optimized the gameplay experience so that it's less noticeable and smoother," some of which can be seen in video form here. Still, those pining for more characters to pummel will be left wanting. According to Capcom, adding additional fighters was "technically not possible for the patch." We'll just have to wait until we get our thumbs on the full game to get our Cammy on.
Namco Bandai's ridiculously cross-brandedSoul Calibur IV has cut a deep swath into retail shelves worldwide, shipping not one million units but two since its July 29 debut.
Still, and not to make an example out of you, Namco, but really all of this chest puffery over units shipped is a bit overblown. It's like bragging about how many pencils you threw at the ceiling, rather than what's really important, namely how many stuck. Then again, we imagine it's difficult to look up and count while you're ducking under the desk from falling profits.
We're so mad at ourselves for in some small way perpetuating the sphere of influence of Kim Kardashian, who, as Joel McHale correctly points out, is famous for having a big ass and a sex tape. But news is slow this morning, OK? It was either this or another cake shaped like the Companion Cube.
That said, here's EA Sports chief Peter Moore beating up on Kim Kardashian in Facebreaker, a fight you can re-enact at home with just a few free minutes and a semi-truck full of self-loathing. Who wins this historic clash of titans? All we can say for sure is not us, dear reader. Not us.
The creativity and ingenuity of gamers is not to be questioned. Case in point: the avalanche of (mostly) excellent classic characters re-created in Soul Calibur IV. We've already covered a few24 of them, but this latest batch warrants a look as well. After all, it will at least give you a kicking-off point for making your own versions of Mario and Lugi, along with Cammy (Street Fighter), The Bride (Kill Bill), Gundam (er, Gundam), and more. While you're at it, we're sure our podcast crew would love to see themselves in SCIV form. (hint-hint)
What's wrong with this picture? It directly contradicts what Soul Calibur IV director Katsutoshi Sasaki said in a recent interview, that's what. Specifically, Sasaki responded "we don't have any plans for that" when asked by XCN if we'd ever see both characters from a galaxy far, far away battling each other on the same console.
You can't get much more official than the game's director, but his comments don't explain screenshots (such as the one above) and video that have appeared on the net clearly (and seemingly authentically) showing both Yoda and Vader in the same version of SCIV. We can't help but think Sasaki is practicing his Jedi mind tricks on us with this one.
It's usually not until we roll out of bed on Monday morning that we find out what retro itch the Wii's Virtual Console will scratch. However, SNK has let the sword out of the sheath a bit early, confirming that next week's retro throwback will include arcade favorite Samurai Shodown II.
As great as SNK's 1994 2D fighter is, to say nothing about how much better it is than the original, it's starting to make less and less sense to pick up these Neo Geo titles piecemeal when SNK continues to bundle the games together at retail. It's hard to justify the digging through the couch for 900 Wii Points when we'll be able to pick up Samurai Shodown Anthology, which will include Samurai Shodown I-VI, on the Wii later this year for about $30.
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It's usually not until we roll out of bed on Monday morning that we find out what retro itch the Wii's Virtual Console will scratch. However, SNK has let the sword out of the sheath a bit early, confirming that next week's retro throwback will include arcade favorite Samurai Shodown II. 
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
