Numbers are supposed to be impressive, right? Well, it’s been 10 years, two hardware generations, and about seventeen thousand rumors since the last pure number Street Fighter came around. And today we have the first ever official details on Street Fighter IV.
We don’t blame you if your eyes have already skipped down to the screenshot lower on the page (yes, that’s from the game engine). Take your time. But we’ve got some information as well, so the rest of this is probably worth reading when you get a chance.
Microsoft Xbox 360Did you expect the Wii? Sorry. It’s a brilliant piece of innovation, that’s not in question, but there simply aren’t enough games to judge it against the best controllers ever. The Xbox 360 pad has proven itself over a longer time and on a wider selection of titles — and it has its own claims to originality.
It’s not terribly pretty — it’s beige, for a start — but the Xbox 360’s pad is a winner on several counts. For starters, it was the first wireless pad to come as standard. Its comfy, solid design offers dual analogue joysticks and two analogue trigger buttons underneath.
There’s also a built-in jack for connecting a headset, so you can hear and talk to your n00b opponents. Can it be waved around like a magician’s wand? Hell no, but this is about serious man-gaming — there’s no time for moving your arms when your thumbs are tapping this fast.
We always knew there was so much more fun to be had from the whole Guitar Hero thing.. and this sounds like its PERFECT.
Harmonix forms Rock BandNew game from Guitar Hero-maker to feature guitar, drum, microphone peripherals, master recordings from major labels; game due on PS3, 360 later this year.
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Harmonix, MTV Networks, and Electronic Arts today officially announced Rock Band. The music-based game will do Guitar Hero two better by featuring guitar, drum, and microphone peripherals, proving rock and roll requires more than just someone who can handle the axe. Rock Band is scheduled to be available for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 this holiday season.
Like Guitar Hero, Rock Band will feature licensed music. Thanks largely in part to its new relationship with MTV, Harmonix was able to wrangle multi-track master recordings from the catalogs of some of the biggest record labels in the business. On board to offer access to their portfolios are EMI Music Publishing, Sony BMG Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, Hollywood Records, and Warner Chappell Music. It is currently unknown how much from each music publisher will be available to Harmonix, but the emphasis going forward will be to work with the artists themselves.
A Playstation 3 owner put together a little video to show what happens to Playstation 2 games when they are played on the PS3. The end result, he says the video appears to show, is that you get more jaggies and artifacts when playing a PS2 or PSone game on the new console than if you were to play it on the PS2.
There have been some interesting reports about the queues for the PS3, but even more interesting have been some of the packages that are offered. Due to the high demand, many retailers have begun to sell “package deals,” with CompUSA going so far as requiring the purchase of a 40″ or larger Sony HDTV if you want your mitts on a PS3. But what if you already had one?
Well…you might wish to check your specs on it. It appears that the system prefers 720p for a resolution, which many older HDTVs don’t support. Many of those are instead in 1080i…which, interestingly enough, it appears the PS3 is not too comfortable with. And rather than upscaling the game from its 720p format, it instead plays it at standard-def.
The issue was discovered by a gamer playing the title Resistance, who wrote to its developer, Insomniac, in the game’s forums. The company replied to the rather dismayed player by saying, “This isn’t our fault guys - we were set to support it.” Nothing further has been said by either Insomniac or Sony.
Before 720p became a truly popular inclusion late last year, most HDTVs supported only 480i, 480p, and 1080i - including many of Sony’s own models. Therefore, this little “oversight” might ruffle quite a few feathers. However, it does make CompUSA’s deal seem a whole lot smarter…
1. Opening Licks
Motley Crue - Shout at the Devil
Danzig - Mother
Cheap Trick - Surrender
Wolfmother - Woman
Spinal Tap - Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight
2. Amp-Warmers
Kiss - Strutter
Nirvana - Heart-Shaped Box
Police - Message in a Bottle
Van Halen - You Really Got Me
Kansas - Carry on Wayward Son
3. String-Snappers
Foo Fighters - Monkey Wrench
Alice in Chains - Them Bones
Iggy Pop and the Stooges - Search and Destroy
Pretenders - Tattooed Love Boys
Black Sabbath - War Pigs
4. Thrash and Burn
Warrant - Cherry Pie
Butthole Surfers - Who Was in My Room Last Night
Mathew Sweet - Girlfriend
Rolling Stones - Can’t You Hear Me Knockin’
Guns N’ Roses - Sweet Child O’ Mine
5. Return of the Shred
Rage Against the Machine - Killing in the Name Of
Primus - John the Fisherman
Sword - Freya
Thin Lizzy - Bad Reputation
Aerosmith - Last Child
6. Relentless Riffs
Heart - Crazy on You
Stone Temple Pilots - Tripping on a Hole in a Paper Heart
Stray Cats - Rock This Town
Allman Brothers - Jessica
Jane’s Addiction - Stop
7. Furious Fretwork
Anthrax - Madhouse
Living End - Carry Me Home
Lamb of God - Laid to Rest
Reverend Horton Heat - Psychobilly Freakout
Rush - YYZ
8. Face-Melters
Avenged Sevenfold - Beast and the Harlot
Suicidal Tendencies - Institutionalized
Dick Dale - Misirlou
Megadeth - Hangar 18
Lynyrd Skynyrd - Free Bird
Yours truly has been selected to participate in the first annual “Shmups World Cup”. I will be on a team with other east coast players taking on teams from Germany, UK, Canada, France, Sweden and Italy. We will be playing shooters from every console and emulator you can think of. From Gradius on the NES to Under Defeat on the Dreamcast, we’ll be playing it and kicking ass. The Tourney starts this Monday.
Wish us luck.
After watching that amazing vid…. I did some quick searching.
Here’s Gamespot’s coverage of the Portals game (a standalone game that will ship with HL2:Episode 2))
Valve founder Gabe Newell dropped a number of bombshells regarding Half-Life 2: Episode Two at EA’s summer press event. Newell revealed that the vaunted PC first-person shooter franchise is going to arrive on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and that the PC and console versions will ship with not only a new single-player game called Portals, but also with Team Fortress 2, the ambitious multiplayer game that Valve tried to develop in the late ’90s but that quietly disappeared later on.
Half-Life 2 fans are already aware of the episodic content that Valve is producing, in place of a Half-Life 3. Episode One, the first chapter, was released earlier this summer to great acclaim. Well, Episode Two won’t just continue the story of Gordon Freeman, Alyx Vance, and the rest of humanity battling the alien Combine for control of Earth.
For one, Valve is planning to release Episode Two simultaneously on the PC, Xbox 360, and the PlayStation 3. And it wouldn’t make sense to give the console players Episode 2, which is essentially the middle of the story, so the console versions of Episode Two will also include Half-Life 2, as well as Episode One. That’s right, both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players will be able to get their hands on the entire Half-Life 2 saga in one package.
In addition to that bombshell, Newell revealed that all versions of Episode Two will ship with a separate single-player game called Portals. This is something of an insanely inspired puzzle game that takes advantage of the Source engine, judging from the hilarious trailer that Newell showed. The trailer took the form of a training video for a new employee of an advanced corporation in the Half-Life 2 universe.
So, for no good reason I decided to drop an email to the gang at Harmonix, to say thanks for making an amazing game, and to ask them if there were any plans to release a complilation album of the music of Guitar Hero (something which I’m sure we all agree we’d buy now that we rock to the music regularly).
I was pleased to see they responded, and I figured I’d post the email and response here.
From me:
Im sure you know by now, but Guitar Hero is amazing, inventive, and some of the best fun to be had in a console.
My friends and I only came to Guitar Hero recently so we are a little late to the ball (or early for GH2 !) but I just wanted to let you know you have done an amazing job. It was even enough to get me to buy a PS2. Well done! Even better to know its a local game company that has brought such a great game to the world.
Thanks and looking forward to Guitar Hero 2,
Russell
Medford, MA
P.S. Is there any chance you and / or Sony will release an album / collection that has the songs of Guitar Hero as a collection. I’d buy one
And the reply:
Hi Russell,
Thanks for the kind words. We do have all the indy band music from GH available at Apples iTunes online store. Red Octane, our publisher for Guitar Hero, has considered putting out a CD of the game music, but all the licensed songs would have to be re-licensed for that, and it’s a bit of a nightmare. We’ll see.
Rock on,
-Mike
Well, we Monkeys have discussed amongst ourselves how we figured that the liscencing must have been a crazy hurdle to overcome, but I bet now bands are lining up to be a part of the sequel. Lets hope everyone gets onboard a compilation CD, and in the meantime, we can all enjoy the less-red-tape-laden indy scene.
Thanks for the response Harmonix, and thanks again for an amazing game.
Street Fighter IV Unveiled news from 1UP.com
