Proving there’s fighting life beyond Street Fighter.

The good news has been trickling in for the past month or so, but Capcom has finally unveiled this sweet poster for their new upcoming arcade brawler. It’s a 3D in graphics and 2D in gameplay tag-based fighter that clearly brings to mind classics such as Marvel VS Capcom 2. The roster is fairly small so far and all that’s been shown are stills of the action, but with how well SF2 Remix and Street Fighter 4 are turning up, you’ve got to have faith in the company that was once the powerhouse of versus mayhem. For those unfamiliar with the other side of the battle, they’re all characters from classic Japanese anime such as Gatchaman (G-Force in the states) and Tekkaman. While on the Capcom side, you have the familiar favorites, as well as surprise inclusions like Soki from Onimusha 4.

How will it play? What consoles will it hit after its arcade run? Those are still in the unknown, but Capcom has promised to reveal all in the near future. In the meantime, you can keep checking the game’s official site: http://www.capcom.co.jp/tatsucap/

MY sales are better than YOUR sales!

If you’re into entertainment, the United States is a great place to be. Finding it is simple enough: drive into a city, walk into any media emporium, and find movies and music from all over the world. If that’s not enough, there are thousands of games to choose from too, created by developers from numerous countries and released across a bevy of platforms. These booming industries are a shining example of our materialistic, consumer-oriented world, which means a lot of money is involved, and no one will make peaceful concessions about who’s making the most.

Take the recently released annual report from the EMA group, which states that the total sales of games, consoles, and accessories were higher than the sales for DVD movies. If you take away the hardware portion of things, DVDs take the top spot with a lead of around $7 billion. However, these numbers don’t include used game sales. 49% of GameStop’s first quarter profits came from pre-owned titles, derived from a $415 million gross. That’s only one quarter’s sales, and it doesn’t include what people picked up on eBay or at their local Blockbuster.

The industry tends to ignore used sales because that doesn’t put any money in the pockets of developers and publishers. Nonetheless, millions of consumers buy pre-owned product, both in game and movie form, although GameStop is forever broadening its used sales scope while retail movie chains are narrowing theirs. To compensate for this cutthroat competition, more new games are being released at bargain prices, and both markets are pushing to increase digital distribution sales. Despite their best efforts, a meager $5 savings is enough to persuade people into purchasing used.

We’ve all heard people say that games would have already won this war if they cost $19.99 when first released. That doesn’t account for movie theater ticket sales, but DVDs have been outselling those for years anyway. It’s taking the biggest share of the market — the home spender — into consideration, and it’s easy to believe games would’ve sold to the tune of billions more if they were that cheap. To get them there, however, developers and publishers would have to function with smaller budgets and less manpower, and their costs are only rising. They work hard only to be stabbed in the back by dipping retail prices and rising pre-owned sales.

Undoubtedly, more developers will collapse under the pressure. Budgeting challenges won’t go away, and the cheaper and unstoppable “casual industry” could overwhelm the entire market to become the true rival for DVDs. The fight for the biggest numbers overall could prove exciting for price-conscious consumers, and may be rougher on the creators of their beloved products. No one can predict what will result, and everyone hopes it isn’t going to be an endless stream of EA-branded clone games, but surely, this battle between the two entertainment industries will rage on for a long, long while.

We tried to wait for the blue bomber. We watched his franchise spawn many branches and go through numerous changes. And then, we weren’t so sure we wanted to wait any longer.

A lot of the adults playing games today started that habit in their childhood. Primarily, marketing departments aim for the 20-24 age bracket of young men, and believe they’re only capable of playing Halo and more Halo. This results in a lack of gameplay variety amongst AAA releases. Because a lot of these aimed-for consumers played Mega Man entries during the late 1980’s and mid-90’s, and Master Chief’s diminutive predecessor was also armored and did have a gun he could shoot, maybe executives thought it wouldn’t hurt to release a title like that today. Were they right?

There are no franchises I love more than Sonic the Hedgehog and Mega Man, but I don’t see the sense in a release that mimics graphics from 1988. One could argue that Mega Man has never been about originality, but over the years, it did introduce Rush, new moves (like the slide), additional playable characters, and more. It was the same old, same old at its core, but it did evolve. Why buck that trend? In this effort to revitalize the original series, and after the fine Mega Man X8, why are we going so far backward in time?

This is a game about robots, isn’t it? You know, from the future? Where things are supposed to be… advanced?

Regardless, I await the game, knowing that Keiji Inafune is involved and this isn’t just some throw-together knock-off (even though it looks like that so far). If he’ll be able to infuse some excellence, much as he did with MMX4 and the original Zero, I’m all for it. More closure beyond what Mega Man 2: The Power Battles’s story offered? Please, I’d love that too. What about a memorable soundtrack? Oh, that better be there! It’s going to be hard to top the music from the series’s NES entries, along with inspired tunes by modern bands like The Protomen, and unofficial remixes by Japanese doujin artists.

In other words, you’ve got your work cut out for you, Capcom. Fans are jaded, and the market group you’re aiming for already rejected the wonderful Mega Man Powered Up!. This has to be amazing, and is it going to be?

Does anyone even care?

This blog article should be recognized as the sole opinion of the editor and does not necessarily reflect GotNext’s official position on the subject.

Prequel to the most immersive FPS of all time.

Welcome back to the dust-choked Zone, set in the fictional aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster.  Set one year before the first game, take the role of Scar, a mercenary fighting for survival against the rival factions vying for control as much as the hostile wasteland of the Zone itself.  It’s a war of territory, artifacts, and true power, with Scar as the deciding factor.

The original S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was lush in its ruined detail, creating the feeling of a real environment, cast in a lighting system that still hasn’t been surpassed.  Direct X 10 support in Clear Sky results in truly spectacular visuals, including dynamic transitions between day and night, detailed landscapes, and lifelike animations.  Though it’ll naturally still work with DX8 and 9.

The AI of the original could be dangerous and downright amusing, flanking you when you least expected it and giving you a helping hand when the odds suddenly turned against you.  That’s also been improved for the prequel, so enemies and allies make situation-based decisions to create the sense of a real struggle.  To take this further, very little in Clear Sky will be predetermined.  Battles will play out in real time with the player there to tip the odds in favor of one faction over another.

Everything you loved from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is making its return, from vast areas to a wide assortment of quests, quirky NPCs and an arsenal of realistic weaponry.  New levels, movie-quality cut-scenes leading up to the original, fast travel, weapon modification, and other welcome features have also been thrown into the mix, for what’s certain to be a grotesque beauty of an experience.

Mega Man 9, Niko Bellic is a rapist, and more.

Busy week?  No worries.  Here are the most noteworthy news items of the past week.

Monday: Kotaku’s Stephen Tolito wrote an interesting piece on figures now available from the Wii’s Nintendo Channel.  He highlighted some surprises, the greatest being that people actually enjoy Wii Play to the tune of nine hours logged per person.  Carnival Games was another unexpected winner.  Most compelling, indeed.

Tuesday: EGM’s Quartermann is reporting one hell of a rumor this month.  If their sources are correct (and their hit-to-miss ratio is decent), Microsoft might be looking to farm out Xbox 360 hardware production to third-party manufacturers.  So… if respected Japanese companies started producing these units, could that change the landscape over there?  Probably not.  But it sure as hell would be interesting. (more…)