Mystery Block Tuesday: The Soul Burns Bright

July 29, 2008

After a long hiatus my rumour mill is making a return to the blogspace. You would think that a column concerning videogame rumours would be easy to gather materials for, but industry news has been unexciting lately. E3, which usually contains big announcements, held no surprises for gamers this year. Even the small conferences held by key developers like Capcom, Konami, EA, or Bioware showcased titles we've been aware of for some time. Certainly Resident Evil 5, Mirror's Edge, and Dead Space still look amazing, but the demos on display were the same as those a year prior. At the very least, the press deserves a hands on of the updated builds. Why ruin a perfectly good opportunity to garner hype for your product? Speaking of games with hype behind them, Soul Calibur IV is landing on store shelves as I speak, er, type. In celebration, this recent rumour concerns the weapon-centric fighter.

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Theory: Soul Calibur IV's console specific fighters, Yoda for Xbox 360 and Vader for PS3, will go cross platform to battle for Jedi supremacy via downloadable content.

Evidence: In a fighting series known for it's ensemble cast of period piece stereotypes, the appearance of beings from a galaxy far, far away was a polarizing moment. On one hand the players can be greatful Yoda is in another fighter that isn't Star Wars: Masters of Teräs Käsi. In the opposing camp, a samurai versus a master of the elements of the cosmos seems a tad unfair. Also, a katana after colliding with a lightsaber should produce a puddle of steel. Though as my more Star Wars knowledgeable friends informed me, a light saber is composed of cortosis weave, which incidentally cannot cut high-density objects. Go figure. Regardless of your support or opposition of these alien invaders, Namco Bandai saw their addition as a plus and even placed the iconic figures on the boxart.

If you do happen upon the cover of Soul Calibur IV you'll notice the Jedia masters are unique and exclusive to either Xbox 360 or Playstion 3. Cloaked green muppet Yoda has aligned with the Microsoft rebels, and the always pessimistic Vader joins empire Sony. Players could only dream of the star-studded match up, until hackers recently sensed a sith force residing on the Xbox 360 disc and have uncovered Vader within the data. Even more incredible is that his code is fully functioning. Providing gamers with the user-made patch the ability to wage the epic lightsaber battle glitch free. Which begs the question,"Why wasn't this available from the start?"

My immediate guess, and likely yours as well, is that Namco Bandai is going to offer the additional fighters as downloadable content. Does this mean the developers intended the extra fighter to come at a premium? Forcing gamers to pay for content already on the disc is quite the swindle, but it wouldn't be the first game to do so. Beautiful Katamari in October of last year required 200 Microsoft points to unlock the final four levels. The profit gained by locking out content until paid for is apparent, but nothing infuriates me more than a developer gimping their product for increased margins. Perhaps the Soul Calibur IV leak being broadcasted across the major presses will persuade Namco Bandai to provide the update free.

Possibility of being true: 90%

Note: Seigfried's Ultima Pointy Crystals sword can overcome any cortosis weave.

Monday Soundboard

The beginning of the week can be a drag if you're returning to a 9 to 5 job you hate. Those long hours spent wondering if you'll survive till that blessed final day in the work week. I'm here to save you from those doldrums with a taste of audio delight. Why waste those minutes at work pretending to be productive? When you could easily listen to podcasts while wasting your bosses' money! Now that is efficiency.


(Right-click and Save Target as to download.)

1up Yours!

GFW Radio

1up FM

Giant Bombcast

Player One Podcast

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"A man chooses, a slave obeys."

(Andrew Ryan, Bioshock)

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Weekly Bits & Bytes: July 20-27

Videogame industry news moves at the speed of light and is impossible to keep up with if you have a job, wife, or life; I lack all three! Free of all those frivolous duties I can constantly refresh my favorite game sites for the latest industry press. It's great to be the king of gaming trivia, and to be a good king I must share my knowledge with you serfs who lead lives of priority. Prepare thyself for ye gaming updates!

Update 1: Indie-d Summer Time

GamesRadar, the gaming site more known for their brand of snarky top (insert number here) lists, has compiled a list of games from the industry unknowns. In celebration of the sweltering summer days they've rounded up a whopping 365 indie games to play on these breezy evenings. All free, all amazing. The high game count may seem a bit daunting to shuffle through, but have no fear because the list is grouped by genre for easy picking. After downloading a number of them myself, you truly can't go wrong with their stellar selection.

365 Days of free games

If you still would like a more structured guide to the prime pickings, I'll riff some stylings from GamesRadar with my own top ten.

TOP 10 Indie Games From the "365 days of free games" List
Click upon the unknown, and experience these gems.
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1. Rose and Camellia
2. TrackMania Nations Forever
3. Cave Story
4. Guest House
5. Knytt Stories
6. Echoes
7. Shift
8. Clean Asia!
9. Dino Run
10. 5 Days a Stranger (The first entry in a five part series.)

Honorable Mention: The other 355. Seriously, I had to pry myself from these games to write this post.

Update 2: Bounce Trounce

If you're a fanatic of fighting games, like me, you're probably clamoring for Soul Caliber IV's release later this week.

The latest addition features much of the same gameplay as previous Soul titles. Buff men wield large slabs of meat against voluptuous, scantily clad women. Newly updated for Namco's latest are: mammary gland expansion for each girl, a clothing destruction system, and a climax move usable against the unclothed opponent. In fighting games I prefer light and quick over strong and heavy, so I often choose XX chromosome aligned characters. Usually the hyper-sexualized appearance of my fighter poses no issues, but Soul Caliber IV has gone into sexy overdrive. Behold a picture of sword-chain-whip wielder Ivy for comparison.

Soul Caliber II Ivy Pre-Op ---------- to ----------- Soul Caliber IV Ivy Post-op

As a dedicated Soul Caliber fan I can appreciate the extra eye candy while mastering moves, but are gamers so shallow that we only seek greater cup sizes in sequels? Answer... yes.


Update 3: Why So Serious?

Actor Gary Oldman, who plays commissioner Gordan in Batman films, recently let slip information on a videogame tie-in to the Dark Knight film. The news of the still mysterious game was uncovered during an interview between Gary Oldman and G4 ComicCon coverage. Details are sparse, but the actor described the game featured numerous action sequences.

This is particularly interesting because the previous movie adaption Batman Begins was entirely stealth based. I've yet to play the first game, but weren't jazzed by the sneaking gameplay.

"The fear system is so weakly implemented, the stealth elements are so heavily swayed by trial and error and the game's progression is so tediously scripted, I never became the Dark Knight."(Ivan Sulic, IGN)

If the developer is willing to abandon their system, there is promise of a successful game yet.

After seeing the film there are a few difficulties I can foresee in making a Dark Knight videogame adaption. Even though the film featured some exciting sequences, the ratio of drama to action seemed nearly 4:1. Unless the developers pad the game with extra levels and storyline not featured in the film, expect a very short game runtime. I'm always wary of film to game adaptations after suffering through Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Nightmares of the escort Princess Amidala missions haunt my dreams still.

Coming Attractions: Pumpkin Kings Edition

It may be a bit early to look forward to Halloween scares, but developers over this summer have shown a number of horrors awaiting us in October. Enjoy these horrifyingly good teasers of what you and I will be playing later this year! (Twinkle, twinkle little star will never be the same.)

Dead Space

Siren: New Translation

Silent Hill: Homecoming

Capcom Announces Dead Rising Wii

Includes 64DD accessory to unlock Wii blast processing!

Japanese gamers flipping through their latest issue of Famitsu were shocked, and likely confused,to find screenshots of Dead Rising Wii Edition. Back in 2006 when I saw the first images of the digital Thriller simulator I thought,"Wow!-this is the first game where next-gen system power brings new gameplay." The revelation that the gameplay pictured above would playable on Wii, insanity.

Gamers proficient in moon speak have translated the magazine preview for extra details. Supposedly the port will be sparingly downgraded to be playable on the Wii and will include extra content. Gameplay additions known thus far are waggle control, an extra boss, and more costumes. My impressions after seeing the scans is generally positive. The textures have been smudged and blurred to PS2 quality, but the army of shambling undead are accounted for. Provided below are the Famitsu scans for you to pass your own judgement.

Nintendo\Sony Conference Live Blog

Tis the Season for E3

Today is the day, the beginning of the greatest game convention of year and probably last year of the Electronic Entertainment Expo! Professional bloggers around the world are covering this event live. So why shouldn't I?-Rhetorical. Using a live chat feed program and my boobtube I'll cover the Nintendo press conference tomorrow. The experience should provide some good writing experience.

I'm also proud to show off a bit of my future website. The basic template is finished and I'm formatting the site in dreamweaver.


You may also notice that my corner of the net has been a little quiet. Prepare for far more updates in the future. In these last few weeks I've amassed quite a collection of half-written articles, that will change. I hope everyone enjoys their E3 festivities!