It that time again, children. Time for outdoor grilling, a time for fireworks. Time to walks in the woods and outdoor activities. And more importantly, a time for all fighting game fans from around the world to converge in Las Vegas to the biggest fighting frenzy of the year. Yep, It's EVO time again.
Fighting games can be some of the most intimidating games out there. Whether it was back in the arcades where every victory relied on your hard earned money, or today where playing online unprepared can lead to some embarrassing losses. Though a tough nut to crack, fighting games can also be extremely rewarding.
Guess what, everybody? I’ve got some big news for you all! I’ve just been hired by Capcom to lead a new R&D game development studio here in the US! I’m calling it Bulldozer Entertainment and we’ll be creating and developing new game ideas using Capcom’s vast properties and licenses. Needless to say, I’ll be very busy and you probably won’t hear much from me here anymore. But before I go, I thought I’d share with you all some of the things I’ll be working on in the coming months.
If you were to ask a fighting game fan if they wanted to see the combatants of Street Fighter and Tekken go at it five years ago, they would probably say "Definitely!" then quickly add, “But it will never happen.”
This generation has been extremely kind to the fighting game enthusiast. Not only have we seen the rebirth of franchises such as Street Fighter, SoulCalibur and King of Fighters, but we have seen things happen that were previously unlikely for the genre. Nobody thought we would see Marvel vs. Capcom 3 after 10 years, yet last year we got not one, but two different versions of the long-awaited sequel.
It took ten years for Capcom to release a sequel to the popular fighter Marvel vs. Capcom 2. Marvel vs. Capcom 3 finally released in February of this year, and nine months later, we already have a follow up with Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3. Many gamers and fans were angered, while others were optimistic. While Marvel vs. Capcom 3 was a fun game, it suffered from a lot of fundamental problems regarding balance issues and lack of content, among other, smaller issues. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 served to not only fix those issues, but provide more content to please people that weren't happy with the original. Overall, the main problems were addressed, and while there are still obvious things missing that should have been included in the game, it manages to trump MvC3 in every way.
Street Fighter 3 was released about 13 years ago. The game and its updates, Second Impact and Third Strike, were often overlooked in favour of the Street Fighter 2 and Street Fighter 4 series. But true fans haven’t forgotten about 3rd Strike, and Capcom has taken notice. Thus we get Street Fighter 3: Third Strike Online Edition, which aims to be the premiere version of the game.
Now is the absolute best time to be a fighting game fan. Games like Super Street Fighter 4 (now Arcade Edition), Marvel Vs. Capcom 3, Tekken 6 and Mortal Kombat have been keeping the fighting scene strong and the list of titles keeps growing. The game on most people's radars now is Street Fighter X (X = Cross) Tekken. This game is the Capcom take on the Street Fighter and Tekken collaboration, and there will be another version known as Tekken X Street Fighter. However Street Fighter X Tekken has been in the spotlight and seems to be closer to being released. I was able to play a good amount of matches and feel out certain characters and I can assure people that are familiar with games like Super Street Fighter 4 that this is NOT the same game.
Last weekend I attended a Super Smash Bros. Melee tournament in Ottawa, Ontario (Canada). It’s certainly not my first one, but it’s the first since I’ve joined PixlBit. Despite being pretty small (the largest I’ve been to had around 243 entrants for Melee and around the same for Brawl), it was a lot of fun, and I got to hang out with a bunch of people I hadn’t seen in far too long. I’ve been playing the game competitively for years now, and with all the people I’ve met and the stuff we’ve done, I don’t see any reason to stop. Also, insert something sappy about friends and making memories .
During, a panel entitled "Street Fighter 4 and Beyond" Yoshinori Ono, the producer of various Capcom fighting games has revealed that Capcom is developing Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike Online Edition.
Capcom has recently announced, Street Fighter X Tekken, a new crossover fighter title developed by Capcom for the PS3 and Xbox 360.
This week's PlayStation Store update features only one new PS3 PSN game, World of Outlaws Sprint Cars. PS3 owners can also enjoy a demo of the upcoming Split/Second title.
Capcom fans have quite a bit to be excited about today thanks to the huge news revealed at the company's Captivate 2010 event in Hawaii.
2009 was a solid year across all consoles. I was surprised how many niche titles made a big impact on me, while a number of high profile titles simply underwhelmed me.
Capcom has recently released a new document which reveals both the sales forcast and release dates of Monster Hunter Tri (overseas), Super Street Fighter 4, and Lost Planet 2. The three titles will be delayed to the next fiscal year (April 1, 2010 - March 31, 2011). The delay was created to avoid competing against major titles from other publishers and to maximize potential sales.
As promised, this week PixlBit was officially included on Gamestats.com and will continue to be on their aggregation lists going forward. While there have been no official confirmations, early next year, we should start being listed on both Metacritic.com and Gamerankings.com.
Recently Capcom released two new trailers for their upcoming title, Super Street Fighter 4.
According to a Capcom development blog translated by Andriasang, the Street Fighter 4 development team was disappointed by the community aspect of the online mode in the original title. Because the development staff primarily focused on perfecting the one-on-one fighting mechanics, the community-driven components were lacking.
