Fight
Latest
Augmented reality relationship game plays with your emotions
If you couldn't quite make it to the last Wii marriage counseling session, there's still good news coming from Georgia Tech. Thanks to a group of engineering minds at the university, a new augmented reality game (dubbed AR Facade) is placing you in the center of a marital spat with nearly limitless options. The program apparently runs on a back-worn laptop and utilizes an oh-so-tacky head mountable display, and developers suggest that being placed in the midst of an "interactive drama" allows you to choose sides, attempt to mediate, and basically "define your own way to win" as you try to talk some sense into the flustered couple. Interestingly, there's even talk of bringing such games "onto mobile phones" and into the workplace, but it looks like they've got a bit of hardware trimming to do first.[Via The Raw Feed]
DirecTV whines over HD survey results, sues Comcast for false advertising
You're probably familiar with the old adage that getting sued just isn't satisfying enough until you take someone else to court over the exact thing that you're being accused of, but even if you're not, DirecTV's here to refresh your memory. The satellite TV provider has apparently scrunched up its nose at a recent promotional advertising campaign in which Comcast claims that two-thirds of satellite customers felt "Comcast delivered a better HD image" when compared to DirecTV and Dish Network alternatives. Not believing that we oh-so-capable humans might be able to actually perceive the difference when an HD feed is somewhat crippled, DirecTV decided that the results mustn't be correct, and suggested that the "survey upon which Comcast relies does not provide or sufficiently substantiate the propositions for which Comcast cites the survey," and concludes by boldly proclaiming that all of the claims "are literally false." Of course, Comcast is standing strong behind its results for the time being, and while either party could most certainly have a case against the other, why are we using cash for HD channel expansion to pay legal teams?[Via TGDaily]
New Guilty Gear screens and details
While these pictures are from scans and thus aren't the best quality, they come with a bonus bit of information: Guilty Gear XX Accent Core players will have a choice of two control schemes: Wiimote with full motion controls, or a more traditional control scheme. Just what we wanted!This latest Guilty Gear is due out in Japan near the end of July.
SNK bringing Art of Fighting Anthology to Wii?
Our network of crow spies have reported to us that the mountain pass is blocked, enemy troops are amassing at our eastern border, and Art of Fighting Anthology for the Wii has been spotted on the ESRB's list of future releases. Eager to learn more about any possible wartime advantages, we've consigned a scout to gather more information on SNK's 2D fighter.The Art of Fighting Anthology collects the entire Neo Geo trilogy of releases (Art of Fighting, Art of Fighting 2, and The Path of the Warrior: Art of Fighting 3). 33-characters strong, the anthology will feature series hallmarks like spirit gauges, desperation attacks, and a graphical-scaling camera system. It hasn't been revealed yet how the Wii's unique controls will be used, but we hope it won't turn out to be a debacle like Metal Slug Anthology's implementation.With hints of a Wii port accompanying Art of Fighting Anthology's PS2 and PSP releases, could this also mean that SNK's Fatal Fury: Battle Archives Volume 1 might have a version for our fair console too? And how long will it be until we see some Neo Geo games like Garou: Mark of the Wolves and Neo Turf Masters on Nintendo's Shopping Channel? Jump past the post break for a showcase of super moves from Art of Fighting 2. [Via Siliconera]
Soul Calibur survey ignites fiery rays of hope
Looks like Namco has been sending out a survey, fishing to see if Soul Calibur fans are digging the Wii. The survey was posted on a forum, and if it was posted in entirety, then the Wii is the only console they asked about. Could this be part of the preliminary research on a Soul Calibur title for the Wii? We can't express how much we hope that's the case. The Wii Fanboy staff spends a lot of its limited spare time discussing various fighting franchises, and there is some serious Soul Calibur love around here. If it were done well ... frankly, the level of our obsession might rival the Gyakuten Saiban love that dominates DS Fanboy.We'll be watching this one closely, looking for any and all scraps of rumor. Who's with us? And what do you think about fighting games on the Wii in general?[Via GoNintendo]
Here come two new VC challengers from Capcom
Two superb Capcom fighting games are headed to the Virtual Console. Final Fight and the inevitable Street Fighter II Turbo Hyper Fighting have been spotted on the ESRB's list of rated Wii games. The SNES version of Final Fight lacks co-op play and Guy, but has plenty of "Oh! My car" to satisfy us. Street Fighter II Turbo is just like Street Fighter II, but sped-up, with more moves, more characters, and some bizarre changes made to the color scheme. We aren't sure why we're explaining this, because everyone in the world has played enough Street Fighter II to know the different versions.Oh, also new on the list was Tecmo's Mighty Bomb Jack. As obscure game advocates, we feel like we should be most excited about this one, but ... yeah, Final Fight is really, really awesome.[Via Siliconera]
Singapore's DSTA launches urban warfare robot contest
While it's not unusual for a nation to desire a full fledged robot army to handle its dirty work, Singapore's Defense Science and Technology Agency (DSTA) is actually offering up a reward to anyone who can "build a robot that can operate autonomously in urban warfare conditions." Obviously, the task is easier said than done, but the country is aiming to acquire an intelligent, street-fighting machine that can move in and out of buildings, open and close doors, and most importantly, "search and destroy targets like a human soldier." Notably, anyone (including institutions) in the world is open to participate in the TechX Challenge, but foreigners must collaborate with local partners in their construction. The contest is being created in order to shift away from remote-controlled robots that tie up human resources, but the goals of the project may indeed be a bit lofty for today's technology. Robert Richardson from the University of Manchester, UK has proclaimed that the "competition could present a major challenge to even the most sophisticated robot," and added that doors and elevators would likely give the autonomous drones the most problems. Crafty individuals interested in the admittedly tempting S$1 million ($652,000) reward must (hastily) submit their entry by May of this year, where a few rounds of elimination will eventually end when a winner is chosen in August of 2008.[Thanks, John S.]
Steve Ballmer laughs off the iPhone, deems it "most expensive" in the marketplace
We'll be the first to give props to Steve Ballmer for accomplishing what he has at Microsoft, and we will agree that the iPhone is one expensive (and probably overpriced) little machine, but during a recent interview where he was questioned about the iPhone, he proceeded to not only compare Apple's forthcoming handset with the "$99 Motorola Q," but insisted that the iPhone was "by far the most expensive phone in the marketplace," which couldn't be further from the truth. Sure, most of the long, long list of mobile phones priced above (sometimes well above) the $500 price point aren't exactly mainstream handsets, but as the luxury phone market continues to bloom, Apple is looking to take advantage of those willing to shell out half a grand to have the hottest gizmo out. Additionally, Steve did mention that the iPhone was absolutely "not suitable for business purposes" due to its complete lack of a keyboard, but considering its half-hearted attempt at Push mail and lack of 3G, we doubt Mr. Jobs is out fighting for the corporate market just yet anyway. Nevertheless, it's always entertaining to see one head honcho completely mock another company's product, so click on through for the YouTube'd interview.[Via Digg]
Sony responds to online taunt with weak rebuttal
Yesterday, Microsoft's Chris Satchell and Peter Moore offered up an old-fashioned bitch slap at Sony's burgeoning online service, saying the PlayStation Network was "pretty much a disaster," in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz. The war of words has now been joined by SCEA's Dave Karraker, who told GamePro, basically, "Um, hey, we've sold a lot of systems." Karraker said the over 200 million PlayStation branded products sold to date were proof that consumers worldwide support Sony's ability to "deliver hardware, software and services to suit this industry." Um, sure, but what do historic sales have to do exactly with a brand new online network? Karakker then trotted out Gran Turismo HD as an example of "the potential of the PlayStation Network and the kind of ground breaking content we plan to offer." Really? Your big defense of your online service is a game demo? Xbox Live has been offering those for over a year now. What else you got? Apparently not much, at least not much that made it into the "in-depth rebuttal" GamePro printed. If Sony is counting on brand recognition and past sales to carry it through this generation, they've got a long, disappointing fight ahead of them. [Via GameTrailers, thanks Phil]
Nintendo offers prizes, likes Japan more than us
Nintendo of Japan has long supported a "Club Nintendo" program by which ridiculous fanboys (like us) get to register their purchased consoles and software for various rewards. Of course, we have a similar "registering" procedure at MyNintendo.com, but we rarely have anything to show for it ... we got a Metroid Prime 2 demo disc, once. Woo-hoo.It turns out that platinum members (a status obtained by magically accruing four hundred points in a year) of Club Nintendo get to choose between two wonderful prizes: Tingle's Balloon Fight, for the DS, or a custom battery pack cover with your very own Mii imprinted on the back. Such a difficult decision! Whilst they ponder, perhaps we may spirit away these prizes in the night. Who's in?
Today's coldest game video: WoW AV snowball
Tis the season for snowball fights in Alterac Valley! There's nothing like pelting a passing dwarf with a chunk of tightly packed snow, is there? In fact, we're surprised no one has released a snowball fight game for one of the consoles. We'll continue to hope and dream for that one day, but in the meantime this World of Warcraft video will tide us over.Check it out after the jump, and be sure to watch your back out there.
Microsoft blames Apple's "quality checks" for iPod virus
Ah, how we love mindless bickering between two mega corporations. In Apple's case, its beloved iPod seems to be a globe-sized target for attacks (and lawsuits), and just a day after the company laid blame to Windows for "not being hardy enough against viruses" found on recently shipped 5.5G 'Pods, Microsoft is firing back with its own harsh criticisms. James Abrams, Microsoft's former head of quality control, pronounced that "Apple didn't know what they were shipping," and suggested that fault should be redirected to Apple's lackluster "quality and content checks." Abrams even stated that McDonald's handling of its own virus-infected DAP problem was far superior to "a lesser company's blame game." Johnathan Poon, Microsoft's current quality assurance guru, finished off the tongue-lashings by prompting Steve Jobs to "contact Poon if he needed someone to advise on how to improve quality checks." Regardless of which party is truly culpable, it looks like we've got ourselves another full-fledged Mac vs PC battle royale on our hands here, and we're certainly not stepping in to break this one up.
Spectrobes webisodes to back up DS release
We know you're in pain. There are so few Nintendo games dedicated to collecting and training monsters that you're all in severe withdrawals. After all, it's been at least ... oh ... six seconds or so since another such title was announced!Okay, so maybe we're being a tad sarcastic, but these days, you can't walk into a gaming store without tripping over monster-farming titles. In such a market, what's a company like Buena Vista to do that will make their new game, Spectrobes, stand out? It's not enough these days to have a kick ass developer -- and they do -- and the intergalactic setting might not do it, either. So what's left? Webisodes, of course! Six webisodes, designed to grant a little insight into the characters and their place in the world, will hit the game's official website over the next half year. Wow, maybe they could even put one of them "telly-vision shows" on the magical picture box! Now that would be something really new and fresh.
Bleach trailer: ass kicking at its finest
Whether or not you're a fan of the anime Bleach, it's hard to argue with a good round of ass kickery. One of the first things we thought of when the WiiVolution was first introduced, way back in the long ago time of 2005, was a fighting game. What better use for the controller than beating down your best good friends?Bleach looks to do just that. This new trailer is equal parts gameplay footage and hot Wiimote-swinging action. Check it out after the jump.
Wii Fight Night mockup
This video is a mash up of promotional footage for Wii Sports Tennis and Fight Night Round 3 (we're assuming it's the Xbox 360 version in action). It's not the greatest compilation in the world, but might help you realize how a game like this could be done on the console. More or less, this is exactly what we had in mind for a boxing game.
Breakfast Topic: Favorite Fight
There are a lot of interesting encounters throughout Azeroth, but some seem to be more memorable than others. Certain raid bosses will always inspire players to gather around the corpse to take screenshots and display their accomplishment, but sometimes smaller encounters are more intense and exciting. One of my favorites must be the fight on the top of the temple in Zul'Ferak, where you look down to see a mass of trolls grouping up at the bottom of the stairs - and knowing you're going to need to fight through all of them to escape. What's the one fight you most remember? An instance or a wandering elite? Or maybe even a PvP kill - let's hear about them!
Gadget vs Dynamizer in robot grudgematch
In celebration of Children's Day (which is also the day we celebrate Cinco de Mayo), our pals running the Robo-One competition announced a prizefight for what they've apparently dubbed Robo-One GP 2006 (Season 1) to take place in Bucheon Robo Park. The fighters: Japan's infamous Dynamizer on this side; Korea's Gadget on the other. Unfortunately we didn't get a chance to see the fight (seems like they neglected to set up a Pay-Per-View feed), but surprisingly even despite the Dynamizer was hooked into a rig that mimicked its master's movements during the bout, the hand-controlled Gadget remained victorious. A severe blow was surely never dealt to Japan's national sense of pride. We understand the 13 year old boy controlling the Dynamizer was heard shouting "I'll get you next time, Gadget -- in space."
Warning: DS Lite may cause a slight case of riot
GoNintendo posted this video, which was originally uploaded via War Pipe forums' poster Kirbutashi, of a couple eager Japanese consumers letting their desire for the short-supplied DS Lite cause them to drop the gloves and engage in some fisticuffs. Honestly people, violence is never the answer. [Via the Warp Pipe Forums]
Poor leadership kills BattleGround teams
Oh, man. So last night, I got a chance to play a few rounds in Warsong Gulch. Usually, I have a good amount of fun doing so, following along with nicely placed orders and helping out while trying not to get slaughtered, lose my tank, or go through all my soul shards. I'm not going to name names here, but last night, I was in a group with a complete and total jerk who continually bossed everyone in the team around because he was a higher level, continually calling us all noobs and flipping out constantly about how we all couldn't do anything right.The thing is, we were winning until he started yelling repeatedly, "EVERYONE IN THE MIDDLE NOW!" And since the team was a little n00b heavy, most people listened to him. This left our flag unguarded by any but my lone self, who ignored him until I just gave up, and we quickly had our flag stolen and planted and he just kept shouting "WHAT? HOW!?"Because your strategy sucked. You need people to charge in the raid, and people to guard the flag. Put all your cards too heavily in one place or the other and you are screwed. Word to the wise: good leaders don't start yelling at you and calling you all noobs. If that happens to you in game, it is time to pick a new leader. What do you think? What's your best BattleGround strategy? Who has been your worst leader?ps—There's an update this morning, and I only need one more signature on the charter for Akama's Horde WoW Insider Guild.
