New Doom 3 For Xbox 360 And PlayStation 3 Supports Head-Mounted Displays 
Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 
Why Robin Makes Batman Better 
Resistance: Burning Skies: The Kotaku Review 
Harley Quinn's Revenge Is Batman: Arkham City's Bad New Ending 
High Scores And Egos: There's Always A Bigger Doodle For a while now, we’ve been hearing that developer Dimps, not Capcom, was doing the heavy lifting for Street Fighter IV. The Osaka-based Dimps is best known for the Dragon Ball Z: Budokai games and Rumble Fish. The company was founded by former employees of two other Osaka game companies, Capcom and SNK. SFIV producer Yoshinori Ono addresses the issue, which we believe is the first time for Capcom to do so: Well, it wasn’t that we were necessarily hiding that fact, but it’s that we didn’t really view them as an external developer in the traditional sense. Takashi Nishiyama, the guy who started Dimps and still runs the studio, used to work at Capcom years ago, and he was actually one of the developers on the original Street Fighter. After he did that game, he left Capcom and set up that studio. He still totally has Capcom blood in him, though, and we still view him as one of the team. The same goes for some of the others there.
In fact, Nishiyama was one of the guys who helped make the Street Fighter 4 project happen. So the way it works is that we handle all of the art, characters, and game design within Capcom, and they handle the programming and balancing. But it really is a true Capcom game through and through, no matter how you look at it.
…Street Fighter is entirely our property, so we have all the say and can control its quality. It’s all in our and their hands to make a really great game. It really does feel like we’re working with people from within the family — again, a lot of these guys used to work at Capcom — and it doesn’t hurt that they’re only a quick 20 minute train ride away.
Yeah, the Capcom and Dimps offices are fairly close, so that takes care of those concerns. They’re both in the same city, no biggie. Though, we’ve heard chatter that producer Ono is not — rumour has it that he’s based at Capcom’s Tokyo branch office and not in Osaka, where the game’s being developed by Dimps. If that’s true, why? (Know: However the hell Capcom made SFIV, it did a solid job — the arcade version is great.)
Street Fighter 4 Producer Talks Wii, Dimps, and Sheng Long [1up]
Good news, Europeans (and antipodeans)! Because it’s the Leipzig Games Convention, and because Leipzig’s in Europe, and because you’ve all been very, very good, this week’s PlayStation Store update is almost exactly the same as the North American one. And the North American one was stacked. You get Ratchet & Clank, you get Kratos, you get DragonForce, you even get the PSP version of Pirates! as a downloadable title. So no complaining this week, OK?
Sony Computer Entertainment Japan announces today that it has partnered with the world’s largest global WiFi community FON to roll out FON access points for a free internet browser via the PSPxFON collaborative service. Starting today, there are approximately 44,000 FON spots across the country and something like 2,200 in Tokyo alone. Via the service, it’s easy to connect PSPs to download game demos, clips, wallpaper and the like. To mark the beginning of the service, there are downloadable goodies for upcoming PSP title DISSIDIA.
No, it hasn’t been refused classification, but given the stream of RCs we’ve seen in the last 18 months, I wouldn’t put it past the board. All EA’s music title could muster is a PG and an advisory for language.
One could take the appearance of the title in the classification database as confirmation we’ll be seeing the game soon. All I’d do is point them in the direction of the entry for the original. November 2007? How’d that turned out?
What we can assume from this news is that EA has at least one build of the game in the country.
Rock Band 2 Game (Multi Platform) [Classification Board, thanks NegativeZero]
vvvvrrrooooooooooooooooooooooooooooommmmm flash flash flash fast fast fast omgcannotwait.
Usually EB’s email specials are decent, but the latest one is a massive exception. Massive. Head to EB and hand over $200, four games and your “old” 60GB console and a brand-new 80GB can be yours!
This would be a fantastic deal, if it wasn’t so damn, damn awful. Scratch that… it’s devious. It works out to be ~$600 for 20GB… as long as you don’t mind losing backwards-compatibility, some USB slots and the card reader. Add to this the fact 20GB is worth $4, going by current HDD prices, and it’s basically one of the worst deals I’ve ever seen. The sad thing is people are going to buy into it.
Nothing more to say, really, except to warn your friends and family who are lucky enough to own a 60GB that the deal is horrible.
Sony PlayStation 3 Console (80Gb) [Thanks David W./Luke P.]
Here’s a sneak peek at Interzone’s MMO soccer title, currently in development at the company’s studio in Perth, WA (with smaller chunks being handled by its overseas branches). Announced two months ago, the game will include social networking features, avatar customisation, virtual items and balls. Lots and lots of balls.
Once again taking a page out of the PC MMORPG playbook, Namco Bandai is pulling out the DLC. Previously, Namco Bandai made mountains of cash with the DLC for Xbox 360 exclusive THE iDOLM@STER by selling various outfits and accessories for the virtual pop idols and doing it endlessly. This now around, the company is offering more than weapons and armour. Instead of grinding through to live up, the game’s DLC will let players buy their levelling up. Need extra gald in-game currency? Buy that, too! Here’s a short sample:
LV Up +10 (1) 300 Microsoft Points LV Up +5 (1) 200 Microsoft Points 30,000 Gald (1) 300 Microsoft Points Skill sets 80 Microsoft Points HP Recovery Cuisine Recipe Set 100 Microsoft Points
Get our your wallets lazy players!
箱○テイルズ、レベルアップやゲーム内のお金をDLCで販売 [痛いニュース Thanks, Witz!]
A while back I was talking about how we don’t have too many choices when it comes to hockey games. However, it is nice to see there’s some variety in the controls when NHL 2K9 comes out for Wii in September.
We already figured you’d be getting some replica maraca controller shells with a Samba De Amigo bundle, but now you’ll also be able to stock up on spares, should you wish to give a second player the same kind of faux-Mexican authenticity. Or add a little flair to your kitchen utensils or tool set. Either or. Amazon have standalone maracas listed at $US 15 for the pair, and unlike the HMV ones, these are all red, so they should shake even faster.
Wii Maracas [Amazon, via Go Nintendo]
